THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

Takusei  Mizuno 


¥fT-^, 


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THE 


BIBLE  IN  INDIA: 


HINDOO   OKIGIH 


OF 


HEBREW  Am  CHRISTIM  EEVEIAnON. 


TRANSLATED  FROM 


"U  BIBLE  DMS  L'INDE," 

BY 

LOUIS  JACOLLIOT. 


NEW   YORK: 
G»     W.    Dillingham     Co,,    Publishers^ 


LOAN  STACK 
GIFT 


CONTENTS. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE ...•...«.•.  9 

THE  VOICES  OF  INDIA IS 

PART  L 
INDIA'S  RELATION  TO  ANTIQUITY. 

CHAP. 

L  —  India,  by  her  Languages,  her  Usages,  her  Laws,  and 

her  Historic  Traditiocs,  the  Civilizer  of  the  World. . .         19 
II.  —  Manou,  Manes,  Minos,  Moses 60 

III.  —  What  the  lessons  of  History  are  Worth 62 

IV,  —  Brahminical  Perversion  of  primitive  Vedism  —  Creation 

of  Castes  —  Divide  et  Impera 63 

V.  —  Whence  the  Paria,  the  Scape-goat  of  the  East 69 

VL  —  Manes  and  the  Priests  —  their  Influence  on  Egypt 74 

VII.  —  Minos  and  Greece &» 

VIII.  —  Zoroaster  and  Persia 83 

IX.  —  Rome  and  its  Castes ,  87 

X.  —  Companaon  of  Privation  of  Caste  in  India,  with  the 
Capitis  Minutio  (diminution  or  privation  of  CivU 
Rights)  in  the  Laws  of  Justinian,  and  the  civil  death 

{Mart  civile)  of  the  Code  Napoleon 89 

XI.  —  The  Devadassis,  Virgins  of  the  Pagodas  —  Customs 
preserved  by  all  Ancient  Worships  —  The  Python- 
:ases  at  Athens — The  Pythoness  of  Endor  —  The 

Vestals  at  Rome , ,        93 

XII.  —  Simple  Retrospect, ,, 9^ 


i.    024 


«*t^ 


▼1  ,  GOMTENTSL 

PART  IL 

MOSES  OR  MOXSE  AND  HEBREW  SOaETV. 

CHAP.  PAGI 

I.  — Revdatiocs  —  Incarnatbns loo 

II.  —  Zeus  —  Jezeus  —  Isds  —  Jesus 103 

HI.  —  The  Farias  of  Egypt  and  Moses lo8 

IV,  —  Moses  founds  Hebrew  Society  on  the  model  of  "Egypt 

and  of  India 12I 

V.  —  Hebrew  Penal  System 128 

V^I.  —  Balance-sheet  of  the  Bible  —  Chastisements,  Massacres, 

and  Destructions 131 

VII.  —  Some  Special  Examples  of  Influence,  through  Egypt, 

on  Hebrew  Society 134 

VIII.  —  Impossibility  of  Biblical  Influence  on  the  Ancient  World.  169 

IX.  —  Authenticity  of  the  Hindoo  Sacred  Books 176 

X.  —  Spiritualism  of  the  Bible iSo 

XI.— Morality  of  the  Bible 181 

PART  III. 

THE  HINDOO  GENESIS.  — THE  VIRGIN  DEVANAGUr 
AND  JEZEUS  CHRISTNA. 

I.  —  Zeus  and  Brahma  —  Religious  Cosmical  Beliefs x8j 

JI.  —  The  Awakening  of  Brahma  —  Creation  of  Devas,  or 
Angels — Their  Revolt  —  The  Vanquished  are  cast 
into  Hell  under  the  name  of  Rakchasas,  or  Demons.       iSS 

III.  —  Hindoo  Trinity  —  Its  Role  —  Creation  of  the  Earth. . .       19K 

IV.  —Creation  of  Man  —  Adima  (in  Sanscrit,  the  First  Man) 

—  Heva  (in  Sanscrit,  that  which  completes  life)  — 
The  Island  of  Ceylon  is  assigned  them  as  a  Dwelling 
Place — Original  Transgression  committed  by  Adima 


CONTENTS.  vii 

OMUi  MGI 

—  His  Wife  follows  firom  love  of  him  —  Despair  of 
Adima  —  Heva  consoles  him,  and  invokes  the  Lord — 
Brahma^s  Pardon —  Promise  of  a  Redeemer 195 

V.  —  Wherefore  does  Moses  attribute  to  the  Woman  the 
Initiative  in  Original  Sin  ? — the  Woman  of  the  Vedas 

and  the  Women  of  the  Bible 201 

VL  —  The  Deluge,  according  to  the  Maha-Barata  and  Brah- 

minical  Traditions 210 

VII.  —  The  Legend  of  the  Patriarch  Adjigarta 214 

VIIL  —  Incarnations  —  Prophecies  announcing   the  coming  of 

Christna 223 

IX.  —  Birth  of  the  Virgin  Devanagay,  accordmg  to  the  Baga- 

Veda-Gita  and  Brahminical  Traditions 228 

X  —  Infency  of  Devanaguy  —  Death  of  her  Mother  —  Her 

Return  to  Madura 231 

XL  —  The  Promise  of  God  accomplished —  Birth  of  Christna 

—  Persecution  of  the  Tyrant  of  Madura — Massacre 
of  all  the  Male  Children  bom  on  the  same  night  as 
Christna 234 

XIL  —  Christna  b^ins  to  Preach  the  New  Law — His  Disciples 

—  Ardjoima,  his  most  zealous  Coadjutor — Conver- 
sion of  Sarawasta 237 

XHL  — Christna's  Lessons  to  the  People  —  Parable  of  the  Fish- 
erman—  Thoughts  and  Maxims 240 

XIV.  —  Christna's  Philosophic  Teaching 247 

XV.  —  Transfiguration  of   Christna  —  His  Disciples  give  him 

the  name  of  Jezeus  (pure  essence) 2^1 

XVI. — Christna  and   the   two    Holy  Women,   Nichdali   and 

Sarasvati 253 

XVIL  —  Christna  goes  to  perform  his  Ablutions  at  the  Ganges  — 

His  Death 253 

XVIII.  —  Some  Words  of  Explanation 255 

XIX  ^-  Successors  of  Christna —  Grandeur  and  Decay  of  Brah- 

xnixusm. ...(...••..••......••...• •      J57 


VIU  CONTENTS. 

CHAP.  PACK 

XX.  —  Ceremonies  and   Sacraments  of   Ancient    Brahminical 

Worship 26d 

XXI. — Brahminical    Feasts  and    Ceremonies  of   the    Present 

Time 271 

XXII.  —  Last  Manifestation  of  God  on  Earth,  according  to  Hin- 
doo Sacred  Books 281 

XXIII. —  Epilogue.     Inutility  and    Impotence  of    the  Christian 

Missionary  in  India 382 


PART    IV. 
HINDOO   ORIGIN  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEA. 

I.  — Simple  Explanation 287 

II.  —  Impossibility  of  the  Life  of  Christ,  as  described  by  the 

Evangelists 289 

III.  —  Devanaguy  and  Mary  —  Christna  and  Christ 299 

IV.  —  Massacre  of  the  Innocents  in  India  and  Judea 303 

V.  —  Hindoo  and  Christian  Transfiguration 306 

VI.  —  The  Holy  Women,  Nichdali,  Saravasti,  and  Magdalen      308 
VII.  —  Tenth  Hindoo  Avatar,  or  descent  of   Christna  upon 
Earth  to  encounter  the  Prince  of  the  Rakchasas  — 

Apocrypha  of  St.  John 309 

VIII.  —  Christ  Tempted  by  the  Devil 311 

IX.  —  Constitution  of  the  Church  by  the  Apostles  on  the 
model  of  Brahminical  Institutions  —  the  God  of  the 
Christians  —  Baptism — Confirmation —  Confession  — 
Ordmation  or  Consecration — Tonsure  —  Cordon-In- 
vestiture, &c 314 

X,  —  Whence     the      Monks    and    Hermits    of     primitive 

Christianity 319 

XI. —Last  Proofs 32X 

XII, — A  work  of  Jesuitism  in  India 32J 

XIII.— ATextofManou , 325 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE. 


To  religious  despotism,  imposing  speculative  delusions,  and 
dlass-legislation,  may  be  attributed  the  decay  of  nations. 

Spain  is  in  the  midst  of  her  revolution  against  wax  candles 
and  holy  water — let  us  suspend  our  judgment. 

Italy  has  not  yet  perfected  the  consolidation  of  her  unity. 

Rome  is  preparing  in  a  General  Council  to  denounce  all 
conquests  of  modem  intelligence,  freedom  of  thought,  liberty  of 
conscience,  civil  independence,  &c. 

Excommunication  attempts  to  revivify  its  impotent  thunders, 
and  once  more  to  bind  emporors,  kings,  and  people  to  its 
yoke. 

English  bishops  strive  in  the  name  of  Luther  to  establish  a 
unity  of  dogma  that  shall  make  them  powerful  —  and  they 
proscribe  Colenso. 

England  stifles  the  groans  of  Ireland. 

The  followers  of  Omar  oppose  and  proscribe  in  Allah's  name, 
the  reforms  that  might  save  Turkey. 

Poland  exists  no  more,  the  Muscovite  sword  has  realized  the 
prediction  of  dying  Kosciusco. 

The  Czar  of  Russia  is  Pope. 

And  yet  —  enter  temple,  church,  or  mosque,  everywhere  is 
mtolerant  persecution  placed  under  the  -^gis  of  God. 

It  is  no  longer  Mediaeval  fanaticism,  for  faith  is  dead ;  it  is 
hjTpocrasy  that  thus  rummages  the  arsenals  of  the  past  for 
arms,  that  may  still  have  power  to  terrify  the  people  once  more 


T  PREFACE. 

to  grovel  on  bended  knees  in  the  dust  of  credulity  and  dark- 
ness. 

Yes !  but  liberty  is  a  young  and  vigorous  tree,  and  the  more 
it  is  pruned  the  more  vigorous  will  be  its  growth. 

France  alone  possesses  the  principle  of  equality — its  vital 
sap  is  always  potent ;  let  her  then  advance  without  revolution 
and  without  violence,  to  the  peaceful  conquest  of  free  insti- 
tutions. 

The  unfailing  result  of  force  is  to  create  divisions,  and  dreai 
even  of  liberty's  self;  and  thus  to  arrest  progress. 

But,  wherefore,  'midst  all  the  rumors  that  surround  her  from 
east  to  west,  from  north  to  south,  does  she  sometimes  seem  to 
hesitate  ?  who  impedes  her  march  ?  what  does  she  fear  ? 

Is  not  the  young  generation,  is  not  JVew  France  ready  to 
abjure  the  impotence  of  a  past  which  she  will  not  restore,  and 
boldly  to  follow  the  onward  flag  that  shall  ensure  freedom 
within,  and  respect  from  without  ? 

Then,  forward ! 

The  age  of  pulpits  and  religious  agitators  is  past ;  we  know 
the  value  of  clerical  oligarchies  attached  to  power,  and  with 
what  facility  the  principles  of  to-day's  success  are  repudiated  as 
antagonistic  to-morrow. 

We  will  no  more  place  them  in  the  curule  chair. 

And  as  we  are  en  route^  let  us  loyally  and  courageously 
assist  the  advance. 

'Midst  reviving  intolerances,  and  all  the  religious  strifes  that 
divide  Europe,  I  come  to  lay  before  you  the  life  of  a  people 
whose  laws,  Hterature,  and  morale  still  pervade  our  civilization, 
and  whose  grave  was  dug  by  sacerdotal  hands. 

I  come  to  show  you  how  humanity,  after  attaining  the  loftiest 
regions  of  speculative  philosophy,  of  untrammelled  reason  on 
the  venerable  soil  of  India,  was  trammelled  and  stifled  by  the 
altar  that  substituted  for  intellectual  life  a  semi-brutal  existence 
of  dreaming  impotence. 

The  Council  is  about  to  assemble ;  all  enemies  of  liberty  are 
preparing  for  the  great  contest,  and  J  rise  to  show  whence 


PREFACE.  n 

their  origin,  whence  derived  their  holy  revelation,  and  to  say  to 
the  Government  of  France — 

Beware  of  the  sacerdotal  heritors  of  Hindoo  Brahminism ! 

They,  too,  began  with  poverty  and  abnegation,  and  ended 
with  opulence  and  despotism. 

Listen  to  the  Catholic  Missionary  Dubois  on  the  ancient 
Brahmins.     We  cannot  suspect  him  of  partiality  : 

"Justice,  humanity,  good  faith,  compassion,  disinterested- 
ness ;  in  fact,  all  the  virtues  were  familiar  to  them,  and  taught 
by  them  to  others,  both  by  precept  and  example  :  hence  the 
Hindoos  profess,  speculatively  at  least,  nearly  the  same  princi- 
ples of  morality  as  ourselves."  * 

Thus  did  they  gain  over  the  peoples,  by  making  the  divine 
precepts  of  Christna  a  stepping-stone  to  power ;  and  when  the 
princes,  who  had  assisted  their  success,  sought  to  shake  ofl 
their  control,  they  but  rose  to  succumb  as  slaves.  Fearful 
lesson  of  the  past,  by  which  let  the  future  profit ! 

India  is  the  world's  cradle;  thence  it  is,  that  the  common 
mother  in  sending  forth  her  children  even  to  the  utmost  West, 
has  in  unfading  testimony  of  our  origin  bequeathed  us  the 
legacy  of  her  language,  her  laws,  her  morale^  her  literature,  and 
her  religion. 

Traversing  Persia,  Arabia,  Egypt,  and  even  forcing  their 
way  to  the  cold  and  cloudy  North,  far  from  the  sunny  soil  of 
their  birth ;  in  vain  they  may  forget  their  point  of  departure, 
their  skin  may  remain  brown,  or  become  white  from  contact 
with  snows  of  the  West ;  of  the  civilizations  founded  by  them 
Gplendid  kingdoms  may  fall,  and  leave  no  trace  behind  but 
some  few  ruins  of  sculptured  columns ;  new  peoples  may  rise 
from  the  ashes  of  the  first ;  new  cities  flourish  on  the  site  of 
the  old ;  but  time  and  ruin  united  fail  to  obUterate  the  evei 
legible  stamp  of  origin. 

Science  now  admits,  as  a  truth  needing  no  further  demonstra- 


Moeurs  des  Indes  *'  par  I'Abbe  Dubois,  t  iu 


Xii  PREFACE. 

tion,  that  all  the  idioms  of  antiquity  were  derived  from  the  fai 
East;  and  thanks  to  the  labors  of  Indian  philologists,  oui 
modern  languages  have  there  found  their  derivation  and  their 
roots. 

It  was  but  yesterday  that  the  lamented  Burnouf  drewr  the 
attention  of  his  class  "  to  our  much  better  comprehension  of 
the  Greek  and  I^atin,  since  we  have  commenced  the  study 
of  Sanscrit." 

And  do  we  not  now  assign  the  same  origin  to  Sclavonic  and 
Germanic  languages  ? 

Manou  inspired  Egyptian,  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Roman 
legislation,  and  his  spirit  still  permeates  the  whole  economy  of 
our  European  laws. 

Cousin  has  somewhere  said,  "  The  history  of  Indian  philos- 
ophy is  the  abridged  history  of  the  philosophy  of  the  world." 

But  this  is  not  all. 

The  emigrant  tribes,  together  with  their  laws,  their  usages, 
their  customs,  and  their  language,  carried  with  them  equally 
thdr  religion — their  pious  memories  of  the  Gods  of  that  home 
which  they  were  to  see  no  more — of  those  domestic  gods 
whom  they  had  burnt  before  leaving  forever. 

So,  in  returning  to  the  fountain-head,  do  we  find  in  India  all 
the  poetic  and  religious  traditions  of  ancient  and  modem  peo- 
ples. The  worship  of  Zoroaster,  the  symbols  of  Egypt,  the 
mysteries  of  Eleusis  and  the  priestesses  of  Vesta,  the  Genesis 
and  prophecies  of  the  Bible,  the  morale  of  the  Samian  sage, 
and  the  sublime  teachings  of  the  philosopher  of  Bethlehem. 

This  book  comes  to  familiarize  all  those  truths  which 
have  hitherto  but  agitated  the  higher  regions  of  thought, 
those  truths  which,  doubtless,  many  have  perceived  without 
daring  to  proclaim  them. 

It  is  the  history  of  religious  revelation,  transmitted  to 
all  peoples,  disengaged,  as  far  as  possible,  from  the  fables 
of  ignorance  and  of  designing  Sacerdotalism  of  all  times. 

Aware   of  the  resentment  I  am  provokirg,  I  yet  shrink 


PREFACE.  Xia 

not  from  the  encounter.  We  are  no  longer  burnt  at  the 
stake,  as  in  the  times  of  Michael  Ser,*etus,  Savonarola,  and 
of  Philip  II.  of  Spain ;  and  free  thought  may  be  freely 
proclaimed  in  an  atmosphere  of  freedom.  And  thus  do  I 
iubiuit  my  book  to  the  reader. 
t 


THE    VOICES    OF    INDIA, 


Soil  of  Ancient  India,  cradle  of  humanity,  haill  Hail, 
venerable  and  efficient  nurse  whom  centuries  of  brutal 
invasions  have  not  yet  buried  under  the  dust  of  oblivion ' 
}iail,  father  land  of  faith,  of  love,  of  poetry  and  of  science! 
nlay  we  hail  a  revival  of  thy  past  in  our  Western  future  ! 

I  have  dwelt  midst  the  depths  of  your  mysterious  forests, 
seeking  to  comprehend  the  language  of  your  lofty  nature, 
and  the  evening  airs  that  murmured  midst  the  foliage  of 
banyans  and  tamarinds  whispered  to  my  spirit  these  three 
magic  words :  Zeus,  Jehova,  Brahma. 

I  have  inquired  of  Brahmins  and  priests  under  the 
porches  of  temples  and  ancient  pagodas;  and  they  have 
replied : 

"  To  live  is  to  think,  to  think  is  to  study  God,  who  is  all, 
and  is  in  all." 

I  have  listened  to  the  instruction  of  pundits  and  sages, 
and  they  have  said : 

"  To  live  is  to  learn,  to  learn  is  to  examine  and  to  fathom 
in  all  their  perceptible  forms  the  innumerable  manifesto- 
tions  of  celestial  power." 

I  have  turned  to  philosophers  and  have  said  to  them : 

"What  then  are  you  doing  here,  stationary,  for  more  than 
six  thousand  years,  and  what  is  this  book  that  you  are 
always  fmnbling  on  your  knees  ?  " 

And  they  have  smiled  in  murmuring  these  words : 


l6  THE   VOICES   OF   INDIA. 

"To  live  is  to  be  useful,  to  live  is  to  be  just,  and  we  leam 
to  be  useful  and  just  in  studying  this  book  of  the  Vedas, 
which  is  the  word  of  eternal  wisdom,  the  principle  of  prin- 
ciples as  revealed  to  our  fathers." 

I  have  heard  the  songs  of  poets  —  and  love,  beauty, 
perfumes  and  flowers,  they  two  have  afforded  their  divine 
instruction. 

I  have  seen  fakirs  smiling  at  grief  on  a  bed  of  thorns 
and  of  burning  coals.  — Suffering  spoke  to  them  of  God. 

I  have  ascended  to  the  sources  of  the  Ganges,  where 
thousands  of  Hindoos  kneel,  at  the  sun's  rising,  on  the 
banks  of  the  sacred  river  —  and  the  breeze  has  borne  to  me 
these  words : 

"The  fields  are  green  with  rice,  and  the  cocoa-tree  bends 
under  its  fruit  —  let  us  return  thanks  to  Him  who  gave 
them." 

And  yet,  maugre  this  earnest  faith,  these  breathing  beliefs, 
despite  the  sublime  instruction  of  Brahmins,  of  sages,  of 
philosophers  and  of  poets,  I  have  seen  vour  sons,  poor  old 
Hindoo  mother,  enervated,  enfeebled,  demoralized  by  brutish 
passions,  abandon,  without  complaint  to  a  handful  of  grinding 
merchants,  your  blood,  your  wealth,  your  virgin  daughters, 
and  your  liberty. 

How  often  have  I  not  heard  on  the  evening  air,  hoarse 
moans  of  wailing  complaint  that  seemed  to  rise  from  desert 
marshes,  sombre  pathways,  rivers'  banks,  or  woody  shades, 
&c.  1  Was  it  the  voice  of  the  past,  returning  to  weep  o'er  a 
lost  civilization  and  an  extinguished  grandeur  ? 

Was  it  the  expirtig  groan  of  Sepoys  mowed  down  pele 
m^le  by  grape  with  their  wives  and  children  after  the 
revolt,  by  some  red-jackets  who  thus  revenged  their  owu 
panic  ? 

Was  it  the  wail  of  nurslings,  vainly  seeking  sustenance 
at  the  cold  breast  of  mothers  —  dead  from  starvation  ? 

Alas!  what  fearful  sufferings  has  it  been  my  fate  t« 
witness ! 


THE  VOICES   OF   INDIA.  ly 

A  people  smiling  in  apathy  under  the  iron  hand  that 
Jestroys  them,  and  with  their  own  hand  joyously  digging 
the  grave  of  their  ancient  glories,  of  their  recollections  and 
of  their  independence.* 

WTiat  sinister  influence,  I  asked  myself,  has  then  been 
the  cause  of  such  a  state  of  decomposition?  Is  it  simply 
the  work  of  time,  and  is  it  the  destiny  of  nations,  as  of  man, 
to  die  of  decrepitude  ? 

How  is  it  that  the  primeval  doctrines,  the  sublime  instruc- 
tion of  the  Vedas  have  ended  in  such  a  failure  ? 

And  still  I  heard  Brahmins  and  sages,  philosophers  and 
poets,  "in  solemn  converse"  on  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
on  the  great  social  virtues,  and  on  the  Divinity ! 

And  still  I  saw  the  populations  bend  before  Him  who  gave 
their  cloudless  sun  and  fertile  soil ! 

At  last,  however,  I  perceived  that  it  was,  alas !  but  an 
empty  form.  .  .  And  I  saw  with  sadness  that  these  people 
had  bartered  the  spirit  of  their  sublime  beliefs  for  a  verbal 
fanaticism,  freedom  of  thought  and  the  free  will  of  free  men 
for  the  blind  and  stolid  submission  of  the  slave. 

Then  it  was  that  I  sought  to  lift  the  obscuring  veil  from 
the  past,  and  backwards  trace  the  origin  of  this  dying  people, 
who  without  energy  for  either  hatred  or  affection,  \vithout 
enthusiasm  for  either  virtue  or  vice,  seem  to  personate  au 
actor  doomed  to  act  out  his  part  before  an  audience  of 
Statues. 

How  glorious  the  epoch  that  then  presented  itself  to  my 
study  and  comprehension !  I  made  tradition  speak  from  the 
temple's  recess,  I  inquired  of  monuments  and  ruins,  I  ques- 
tioned the  Vedas  whose  pages  count  their  existence  by 
thousands  of  years,  and  whence  inquiring  youth  imbibed 
the  science  of  life  long  before  Thebes  of  the  hundred 
gates  or  Babylon  the  great  had  traced  out  their  foundations. 

I  listened  to  recitals  of  those  ancient  poems  which  were  sung 

*  By  taking  service  under  the  invader  ? 

a* 


J  8  THE   VOICES   OF   INDIA. 

at  the  feet  of  Brahma  when  the  shepJierds  of  Upper  Egypt  and 
of  Judea  had  not  yet  been  born.  ...  I  sought  to  under- 
stand those  laws  of  Manou  whicli  were  administered  by  Brali. 
mins  under  the  porches  of  pagodas  ages  and  ages  before  the 
tables  of  the  Hebrew  law  had  descended  midst  thunders  and 
lightnings  from  the  heights  of  Sinai. 

And  then  did  India  appear  to  me  in  all  the  living  power  of 
her  originality —  I  traced  her  progress  in  the  expansion  of  her 
enlightenment  over  the  world  —  I  saw  her  giving  her  laws,  her 
customs,  her  morale  and  her  religion  to  Egypt,  to  Persia,  to 
Greece  and  to  Rome — I  saw  Djeminy  and  Veda-Vyasa  pre- 
cede Socrates  and  Plato,  —  and  Christna,  the  son  of  the  Virgin 
Devanagny  (in  Sanscrit,  created  by  God),  precede  the  son  of  the 
Virgin  of  Bethlehem. 

This  was  the  epoch  of  greatness,  under  the  regime  of 
reason. 

And  then  I  followed  the  footsteps  of  decay  .  .  .  old  age 
approached  this  people  who  had  instructed  the  world,  and  im- 
pressed upon  it  their  morale  and  their  doctrines  with  a  seal  so 
ineffaceable,  that  time,  which  has  entombed  Babylon  and  Nin- 
erveh,  Athens  and  Rome,  has  not  yet  been  able  to  obliterate 
it. 

I  saw  Brahmins  and  priests  lend  the  sacerdotal  support  of 
voice  and  sacred  function  to  the  stolid  despotism  of  kings  — 
and  ignoring  their  own  origin,  stifle  India  under  a  corrupt  the- 
ocracy that  soon  extinguished  the  liberty  that  would  have  been 
its  overthrow,  as  the  memory  of  those  pjjtSt  glories  which  were 
its  reproach. 

And  then  I  saw  clearly  why  this  people,  after  two  thousand 
years  of  religious  thraldom,  were  powerless  to  repulse  their  des- 
troyers and  demand  retribution,  bowing  passively  to  the  hated 
domination  of  English  merchants — while  night  and  morning  on 
bended  knees  imploring  that  God  in  whose  name  SacerdotaUsm 
had  efifected  their  ruin. 

Chandk&naoore,  F;b.  25th,  1868. 


PART    FIRST. 


CHAPTER  L 


OfDIA — BY  HER  LANGUAGE,  HER  USAGES,  HER  LAWS,  AND 
HISTORIC  TRADITIONS,  THE  CIVILIZER  OF  THE  WORLD. 

The  European  when  he  first  sets  foot  upon  the  soil  of  India, 
proud  of  the  history  and  civilization  of  his  father-land  and 
crammed  with  extravagant  prejudices,  comes  fully  persuaded 
that  he  brings  with  him  a  morality  the  most  lofty,  a  philosophy 
the  most  rational,  and  a  religion  the  most  pure  :  and  then  wit- 
nessing the  impotent  toUs  of  Christian  missionaries,  who  with 
difficulty  assemble  their  few  paria  proselytes,  murmurs  his  scorn 
of  semi-brutified  fanaticism  and  returns  to  his  country,  after 
having  -vvittessed  some  ceremonies  which  he  did  not  understand, 
seen  some  monstrous  idols  that  made  him  shrug  his  shoulders, 
and  some  Fakirs,  a  species  of  Simon  Stylites,  whose  self-tortures 
and  flagellations  filled  him  -with  disgust. 

If  an  unhappy  devotee  with  difficulty  raised  himself  from  the 
Heps  of  a  temple  dedicated  to  Vischnou  or  to  Siva  to  solicit 
alms,  he  has  perhaps  looked  at  him  with  pity  while  murmuring 
the  articles  of  our  code  against  vagabondage,  and  yet  in  visiting 
Rome  he  may  possibly  have  dropped  some  few  oboli  into  the 
trembling  hand  of  the  more  fortunate  Joseph  Lahre^  the  Fakii 
of  the  West 


to  THE    BIBLE    IN   INDIA. 

Very  few  travellers  have  sought  to  understand  India,  very 
few  have  submitted  to  the  labor  necessary  to  a  knowledge  of 
her  past  splendors,  looking  only  at  the  surface  they  have  even 
ienied  them,  and  with  an  unreasoning  confidence  of  criticism 
that  made  them  the  easy  victims  of  ignorance- 

"What  is  the  use  of  Sanscrit?"  cries  Jacquemont,  and 
proud  of  his  own  flippancy  proceeds  to  construct  a  conven- 
tional East  which  his  successors  have  copied,  which  all  libraries 
have  adopted,  and  which  is  even  to-day  the  source  of  all  the 
errors  that  constitute  three-fourths  of  the  amount  of  Europe's 
knowledge  of  that  country. 

And  yet,  what  hidden  wealth  to  be  unveiled !  What  treas- 
ures of  literature,  of  history,  of  morale  and  philosophy  to  be 
made  known  to  the  world ! 

The  labors  of  Strange^  of  Colebrooke,  of  William  Jones,  of 
Weber,  Lassen,  and  Burnouf,  have  thrown  some  light  upon  all 
these  things.  Let  us  hope  that  a  succession  of  Orientalists 
may  follow,  and  succeed  in  completely  reconstructing  an  epoch 
which  would  find  nothing  to  envy  in  the  grandeur  and  civiliza- 
tion of  our  own,  and  which  initiated  the  world  in  all  the  great 
principles  of  legislature,  of  morale,  of  philosophy,  and  of  reli- 
gion. 

Unhappily  it  is  almost  mipossible  to  retrace  the  infancy  of 
this  myterious  country  without  domestication  in  it,  without 
familiarity  with  its  manners,  its  customs,  and  above  all  without 
deep  knowledge  of  Sanscrit,  the  language  of  its  youth,  and  of 
Tamoul,  its  living  learned  language,  our  only  channel  of  com- 
munication with  the  past. 

My  complaint  against  many  translators  and  Orientalists; 
while  admiring  their  profound  knowledge  is,  that  not  having 
lived  in  India,  they  fail  in  exactness  of  expression  and  in  com- 
prehension of  the  symbolic  sense  of  poetic  chants,  prayers  and 
ceremonies,  and  thus  too  often  fall  into  material  errors, 
whether  of  translation  or  appreciation. 

I  have  scarce  found  any  but  the  productions  of  the  illustrious 
Englishmen,  William  Jones  and  Colebrooke,  admitted  by  Brab- 


INDIA'S    RELATION   TO    ANTIQUITV.  3f 

mins  to  be  exact  interpretations  of  their  works,  a  fact  which 
they  attributed  to  the  residence  of  these  learned  men  amongst 
them,  seeking  their  assistance  and  profiting  by  their  instruction. 
Few  writers  are,  in  fact,  so  cloudy  and  obscure  as  the  Hindoos; 
their  thought  must  be  disengaged  from  an  atmosphere  of  poetic 
ornament,  rhetorical  flourish,  and  religious  invocation,  which 
certainly  do  not  tend  to  elucidate  the  subject  treated.  Again, 
the  Sanscrit,  for  every  variety  of  image  or  idea,  has  number- 
less different  forms  of  expression  which  have  no  equivalent  in 
our  modem  languages,  which  can  only  be  rendered  by  great 
circumlocution,  requiring  that  intimate  knowledge  only  to  be 
acquired  from  the  soil,  the  manners,  customs,  laws,  and  relig- 
ious traditions  of  the  people  whose  origin  we  study  and  whose 
works  we  translate. 

To  fathom  ancient  India,  all  knowledge  acquired  in  Europe 
avails  naught ;  the  study  must  re-commence,  as  the  child 
learns  to  read,  and  the  harvest  is  too  distant  for  lukewanii 
energies. 

But,  then,  how  brilliant  the  spectacle  at  last  presented  to  our 
view,  and  how  ample  the  reward  of  perseverance  ! 

Writers,  Savans  interested  in  India,  come  and  live  with  the 
Hindoo  in  his  shady  home  {sojis  le  Panda!) ;  come  and  learn 
his  ancient  language,  assist  at  his  ceremonies,  his  chants,  his 
prayers;  theologians,  study  Brahma  and  his  worship,  Pundits 
and  Brahmins  will  instruct  you  in  the  Vedas  and  the  laws  of 
Manou ;  revel  midst  remains  of  a  literature  the  most  ancient, 
examine  still-existing  structures,  the  legacies  of  earliest  ages, 
and  which  stand  in  their  symbolic  architecture  as  monuments 
of  an  extinguished  grandeur  midst  decay  that  nothing  can 
arrest,  for  it  is  the  law  of  destiny  —  of  inexorable  fate. 

Then  you  will  have  been  initiated,  and  India  will  appear  to 
you  the  mother  of  the  human  race  —  the  cradle  of  all  our 
traditions; 

The  life  of  several  generations  would  scarce  suffice  merely 
to  read  the  works  that  ancient  India  has  left  us  on  history, 
wufrtkUf  poetry,   philosophy,  religion,   different   sciences,   and 


22  THE    BIBLE    IN   INDIA. 

medicine;  gradually  each  will  produce  its  col tribution,  — fot 
science  too  possesses  faith  to  move  mountains,  and  renders 
those  whom  it  inspires  capable  of  the  greatest  sacrifices. 

A  society  in  Bengal  has  assumed  the  mission  of  collecting 
and  translating  the  Vedas. 

We  shall  discover  whence  Moses  and  the  Prophets  abstracted 
their  Holy  Scripture,  and  perhaps  restore  their  book  of  Kings, 
which  they  report  lost,  but  which  I  am  of  opinion  they  nevei 
possessed,  and  could  not  transcribe  for  their  Bible  from  mere 
tradition. 

It  may  be  said  that  I  make  my  debut  with  strange  proposi- 
tions. Patience  ;  multiplied  proofs  will  present  themselves, 
redoubling  and  sustaining  each  other. 

And  perhaps  it  is  here  that  the  ruling  idea  of  this  work  should 
be  declared.     It  is  this : 

In  the  same  manner  as  modern  society  jostles  antiquity  at 
each  step — as  our  poets  have  copied  Homer  and  Virgil,  Sopho- 
cles and  Euripides,  Plautus  and  Terence ;  as  our  philosopherj 
have  drawn  inspiration  from  Socrates,  Pythagoras,  Plato  and 
Aristotle  ;  as  our  historians  take  Titus  Livius,  Sallust,  or  Taci- 
tus as  models  ;  our  orators  Demosthenes  or  Cicero ;  our  physi 
cians  study  Hippocrates,  and  our  codes  transcribe  Justinian  — 
so  had  antiquity's  self  also  an  antiquity  to  study,  to  imitate,  and 
to  copy.  What  more  simple  and  more  logical  ?  .  .  .  Do 
not  peoples  precede  and  succeed  each  other  ?  Does  the  knowl- 
edge painfully  acquired  by  one  nation  confine  itself  to  its  own 
territory,  and  die  with  the  generation  that  produced  it  ?  Can 
there  be  any  absurdity  in  the  suggestion  that  the  India  of  six 
thousand  years  ago,  brilliant,  civilized,  overflowing  with  popu- 
lation, impressed  upon  Eg)^t,  Persia,  Judea,  Greece,  and 
Rome  a  stamp  as  ineffaceable,  impressions  as  profound,  as 
these  last  have  impressed  upon  us  ? 

It  is  time  to  disabuse  ourselves  of  those  prejudices  which 
represent  the  ancients  as  having  almost  spontaneously  elabor- 
ated ideas,  philosophic,  religious,  and  moral,  the  most  lofty  — 
tliese  pre^tdices  that  ia  their  naive  admiration  explain  all  in 


India's  relation  to  antiquity.  2$ 

the  domain  of  science,  orts,  and  letters  by  the  intuition  of 
some  few  great  men,  and  in  ihe  realm  of  religion  by  revela- 
tion. 

And  because  we  have  for  ages  lost  the  connecting  links  be- 
tween antiquity,  so  called,  and  India,  is  that  a  sufficient  reason 
for  still  worshipping  a  delusion  without  seeking  its  possible 
solution  ? 

Have  we  not,  in  disruption  with  the  past,  by  experiment,  by 
tlie  scales  and  crucible,  refuted  occult  mediaeval  sciences  ? 

Let  us  then  carry  the  same  principle  of  experiment  into  the 
realm  of  thought.     Philosophers,  let  us  reject  intuition !     Ra 
tionaHsts,  let  us  repudiate  revelation  ! 

1  ask  of  all  who  have  specially  studied  antiquity  if  it  has  not 
twenty  times  occurred  to  them  that  these  people  must  have 
drunk  from  some  spring  Pierian  unknown  to  us  ?  when  posed  by 
some  point  of  historic  or  philosophic  obscurity,  if  they  have  not 
twenty  times  said  to  themselves,  "  Ah  !  if  the  Alexandrian 
Library  had  not  been  burnt,  perhaps  we  might  there  have  found 
the  lost  secret  of  the  past." 

One  thing  has  always  especially  struck  me.  We  know  bv 
what  studies  our  thinkers^  our  moralists,  our  legislators,  have 
formed  themselves.  But  who  were  the  precursors  of  M^nes 
the  Egyptian,  of  Moses,  of  Minos,  of  Socrates,  of  Plato,  and 
of  Aristotle  ? 

Who,  lastly,  was  the  precursor  of  Christ  ? 

Will  it  be  said  they  had  no  precursors  ? 

I  reply  that  my  reason  rejects  the  spontaneity  of  intelli. 
gence,  —  the  intuition  of  these  men,  which  some  explain  as 
divine  revelation ! 

And  escaping  from  the  cloudy  past,  I  accept  freely  reasoned 
criticism  alone  in  my  forward  progress  on  that  road  which,  to 
my  thought  at  least,  must  lead  at  last  to  the  goal  of  truth. 

Nations  only  attain  edaf  after  long  and  painful  infancy, 
unless  aided  by  the  light  of  peoples  that  have  preceded  them. 

Remember  how  modem  society  groped  in  darkness  until  thf 
fall  of  Constantinople  restored  the  light  of  antiquity. 


24  THE    BIBLE    IN   INDIA. 

Ttiat  Hindoo  emigration  rendered  the  same  service  to  Egypt^ 
to  Persia,  Judea,  Greece,  and  Rome,  is  what  I  propose  to  dem. 
onstrate. 

Certainly  I  do  not  promise  as  complete  elucidation  as  I 
could  wish ;  the  cask  is  beyond  the  power  of  a  single  worker. 
I  present  an  idea  which  I  believe  true  —  supported  by  such 
proofs  as  I  have  been  able  to  collect  as  well  from  the  woiks  of 
learned  Orientals,  as  from  my  own  feeble  resources  —  others 
will  explore  the  mine,  better,  perhaps,  and  more  deeply  —  in 
the  meantime,  behold  the  first  coup  de  pioche. 

And  I  must  here,  once  for  all,  declare  that  I  seek  neither 
contest  nor  offence ;  that  possessing  the  most  perfect  respect 
for  all  beliefs,  I  yet  hold  myself  free  absolutely  to  reject  them 
in  my  entire  independence  of  thought. 

Enquirers  who  have  adopted  Egypt  as  their  field  of  research, 
and  who  have  explored  and  re-explored  that  country  from  tem- 
ple to  tomb,  would  have  us  believe  it  the  birthplace  of  our 
civilization.  There  are  some  who  even  pretend  that  India 
adopted  from  Egypt  her  casts,  her  language,  and  her  laws, 
while  Egypt  is  on  the  contrary  but  one  entire  Indian  emana- 
tion 

They  have  every  advantage,  the  encouragement  of  Govern 
ment,  the  support  of  learned  societies  ;  but,  patience  !  the  light 
will  appear.  If  India  is  too  far  off  for  lukewarm  energies,  if 
its  sun  kills,  and  its  Sanscrit  is  too  difficult  for  a  little  possible 
charlatanism,  if  it  has  no  fund  for  transporting  defaced  blocks 
of  stone ;  there  are,  on  the  other  side,  some  few  believers  for 
whom  India  is  a  religion,  who  work  without  ceasing,  not  at  ex- 
cavating ditches  and  turning  up  sand,  but  at  exhuming,  studying, 
and  restoring  books.  Ere  long  they  will  estabfish  the  proposi- 
tion as  a  truism  —  that  to  study  India  is  to  trace  humanity  to 
its  sources. 

Others  writers  dazzled  with  admiration  of  Hellenic  light  find 
it  everywhere,  and  give  themselves  up  to  absurd  theories. 

M.  Philar^te  Chasles,  in  his  book  on  the  East,  assumed  as  a 
result  of  Alexander's  almost  legendary  inroad  into  Northern 


INDIA'S    RELATION    TO    ANTIQUHY.  95 

India,  that  Greek  iifluence  had  diffused  itself  throughout  the 
whole  country  and  vivified  ancient  Brahminical  civilization, 
arts,  and  literatiure,  which  is  about  as  logical  as  to  maintain 
that  the  Saracen  invasion  of  the  time  of  Charles  Martel  had 
some  influence  on  the  Gauls  anterior  to  the  Roman  Conquest, 

Such  an  opinion  is  a  simple  chronological  absurdity. 

At  the  epoch  of  A^- zander,  India  had  already  passed  the 
period  of  her  splendor,  and  was  sinking  into  decay  ;  her  great 
achievements  in  philosophy,  morals,  literature,  and  legislation 
already  counting  more  than  two  thousand  years  of  existence  ; 
and  further,  I  defy  whoever  he  may  be,  to  show  in  India  the 
faintest  trace,  the  most  insignificant  vestige,  whether  in  their 
different  idioms,  their  usages,  their  literature,  their  ceremonies, 
or  their  religion,  to  indicate  th6  presence  of  the  Greek. 

The  presence  of  Alexander  in  India  was  but  a  brutal  fact  — 
isolated,  circumscribed,  exaggerated  by  Hellenic  tradition, 
which  the  Hindoos  have  not  even  deigned  to  record  in  their 
history.  I  would  not  unwillingly  wound  a  ^vriter  whose  talents 
I  sincerely  admire,  but  I  cannot  forbear  telling  him  that  it  is  a 
dream  hatched  at  the  hazard  of  the  pen,  a  paradox  incapable  of 
sustaining  even  a  semblance  of  discussion,  and  to  which  I  am 
truly  astonished  that  a  distinguished  Orientalist,  M.  du  Menil,  I 
believe,  should  have  given  himself  the  trouble  seriously  to  re- 
ply. 

To  pretend  to-day — in  the  absence  of  all  proof,  and  while 
we  find  not  in  the  annals  of  Hindostan  even  the  Hellenicised 
name  of  the  conquered  Poms — that  Athens  inspired  Hindoo 
genius,  as  she  gave  life  to  European  art,  is  to  ignore  the  history 
of  India — to  make  the  parent  the  pupil  of  the  child;  in  fact,  it 
i&  to  forget  Sanscrit. 

The  Sanscrit  is  itself  the  most  irrefutable  and  most  simple 
proof  of  the  Indian  origin  of  the  races  of  Europe,  and  of  India's 
maternity. 

To  individuals,  what  I  am  about  to  say  may  be  nothing  new ; 
but  let  them  not  forget  that  in  propounding  a  perhaps  new 
idea,  I  avail  myself  of  all  discoveries  that  seem  to  support  it, 
t 


to  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

with  the  view  of  familiarizing,  and  making  known  to  the  riiassef 

who  have  neither  means  nor  time  for  such  studies,  that  extra- 
ordinary pristine  civilization  which  we  have  never  yet  sur- 
passed. 

If  the  Sanscrit  formed  the  Greek,  as  in  fact  all  other  language! 
ancient  and  modern  (of  which  I  shall  presently  offer  many 
proofs ),  it  could  only  have  been  conveyed  to  these  different 
countries  by  successive  emigrations  ;  it  would  be  absurd  to  sup- 
pose otherwise ;  and  history,  although  groping  its  way  on  this 
subject,  rather  aids  than  opposes  this  hypothesis. 

This  granted,  with  so  finished  a  language,  we  must  conclude 
that  the  people  who  spoke  it  had  attained  a  high  degree  of 
civilization,  and  that  with  their  mother-tongue  they  also  neces- 
sarily preserved  their  historic  and  religious  traditions,  literature, 
and  legislation. 

If  the  language,  maugre  its  many  mutations,  and  after  giving 
birth  to  a  crowd  of  others,  still  although  its  primitive  stamp  be. 
lost,  shows  itself  in  modern  idioms,  and  yet  more  distinctly,  be- 
cause so  much  nearer  their  source,  in  those  of  antiquity,  we 
are  logically  constrained  to  admit  that  historic,  religious,  literary, 
and  legislative  traditions,  almost  the  same  to  antiquity,  would 
necessarily  descend  transformed  and  enfeebled  to  modern  times. 

How  vast  and  new  this  field  for  human  investigation  !  As- 
cending with  the  aid  of  ancient  Indian  civilization  to  the  very 
beginning,  we  may  follow  the  peoples  step  by  step  from  their 
infancy  to  their  maturity,  assign  to  each  its  cradle,  disperse  the 
mists  of  history,  and  in  the  same  manner  as  philologists  of  the 
day  trace  the  borrowing  of  each  language  from  the  Sanscrit,  so 
determine  for  each  custom  and  each  tradition  the  amount  of  its 
borrowings  from  the  traditions  and  customs  of  India. 

Thus  we  are  led  to  conclude  that  the  fabulous,  heroic,  and 
legendary  times,  which  history  is  reluctant  seriously  to  re  cog- 
nize,  never  existed. 

They  are  but  Hindoo  traditions  imported  with  the  colonizmg 
populations  from  Asia  Minor  into  Greece,  ard  which  theii 
writers  have  adopted  as  ciadle  reminiscences^ 


India's  rel/%tion  to  antiquity.  af 

Let  us  separate  history  from  poetry  and  imagination. 

Although  ignorant  of  the  fiHation  and  migration  of  their  an 
cestors,  did  not  the  idea  of  an  Oriental  origin  pervade  most 
nations  of  antiquity  ?     And  Rome  herself,  did  she  not  attribute 
the  colonization  of  Italy  and  her  own  foundation  to  vanquished 
Trojans  traversing  the  seas  in  search  of  an  asylum? 

I  repeat,  the  thoughtful  spirit  that  cannot  believe  in  the  spon- 
taneous  production,  almost  without  transition,  of  a  civilization 
without  parallel,  must  necessarily  appeal  to  pre-existing  society 
for  explanation  of  the  secret. 

You  who  content  yourselves  with  poetic  illusions*  and  reve 
lations,  may  believe  in  Hercules,  Theseus,  Jason,  Osiris,  the 
bull  Apis,  the  burning  bush,  in  Moses,  and  the  sacred  origin  of 
the  Hebrews  ;  for  me,  I  require  another  standard,  and  repulse 
such  puerile  inventions  without  respect. 

In  a  work  touching  on  so  many  matters,  which  in  fact  but 
launches  an  idea,  I  cannot  indulge  in  extensive  philological 
comparisons,  but  here  are  a  few  from  the  Sanscrit,  by  way  of 
proof,  if  we  would  know  the  origin  of  all  names  of  Greek  fable 
and  mythology,  tW*^  ^wfc^l^^ijf        jJ^/^^^ 

1  will  be  brief.        ->^  '^  .  .  -^  ^^^ 

Hercules.  —  In  Sanscrit,   Hara-kala^  hero  of  battles — an  epithet  coni- 

raonly  given  to  Siva,  God  of  battles  and  of  Hindoo  poetry. 
Theseus.  —  In  Sanscrit,  T/ia-saha,  the  associate,  companion  of  Siva. 
/Eacus.  — A  Judge  in  Hell,  in  Greek  mythology;  in  Sanscrit,  Aha-ka^  a 

severe  judge,  adjective  of  qualification,  ordinarily  attached  to  the  name 

of  Yama  —  the  Hindoo  Judge  of  Hell. 
Ariadne.  —  The  unhappy  princess  abandoned  by  Theseus,  and  who  had 

committed  the  fault  of  giving  herself  up  to  the  enemy  of  her  family. 

la  Sanscrit,  Ari-ana  —  seduced  by  an  enemy. 
RfaDamanthus. — Another  Judge  in  Hell,  in  mythology  ;  in  Sanscrit, 

Radha-rvanta  —  who  chastises  crime. 
Andromeda.  —  Sacrificed  to   Neptune,  and    succored   by    Perseus.     !■ 

Sanscrit,  And/ia-ra-medha  —  sacrificed  to  the  passioi  of  the  Wates 

God. 
Persius.  —  In  Sanscrit,  Para-saha — timely  succor, 

*  Inventus  Mundi,  to  wit. 


«8  THE  BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

Orestes.—  Celebrated  for  his  madness.     In  Sanscrit,    0-raJ^s4'(m d& 

voted  to  misfortune. 
Pylades.  —  The  friend  of  Orestes.     In  Sanscrit,  Pula-dci  —  who  consolet 

by  his  friendship. 
[PHiGENiA.  —  The  sacrificed  virgin.     In  Sanscrit,  Apha-gana  —  who  end? 

without  posterity. 
Centaur Mythologic,  half  man,  half  horse.     In  Sanscrit,  Ken-tiira  - 

Man -torse. 

The  Olympian  divinities  have  the  same  origin  : 

Jupiter.  —  In  Sanscrit,  Zu-pitriy  Father  of  Heaven,  or  Zeus-pitriy  of 

which  the  Greeks   have  made   the    word  Zeus^    and  the    Hebrews 

Jehovah. 
Pallas. — The  Goddess  of  Wisdom.     In  Sanscrit,  Pala-sa  —  protecting 

wisdom. 
Athenia.  —  The  Greek  Goddess  of  Chastity.     In  Sanscrit,  A-tanaia  — 

without  children. 
Minerva.  —  Who  is  the  same  goddess  with  the   Romans,  but  with  tho 

added  attribute  of  courage.     In   Sanscrit,    Ma-nara-va  —  who  sup 

ports  the  strong. 
Bellona.  —  Goddess  of  War.     In  Sanscrit,  Bala-na — warlike  strength. 
Neptune.  — In  Sanscrit,  Na-pata-na — who  governs  the  furious  waves. 
Poseidon  —  Another  Greek  name  of  Neptime.     In   Sanscrit,  Fasa-uda 

— who  calms  the  waters. 
Mars.  —  God  of  War.     In  Sanscrit,  Afri —  who  gives  death. 
Pluto.  —  God  of  HeU.     In  Sanscrit,  Plushta  —  who  strikes  with  fire. 

A  few  examples  now  from  among  the  people  ;  there  is  no  bet- 
ter way  of  proving  emigration  than  by  the  etymology  of  names. 

1'he  Pelasgi.  —  In  Sanscrit,  Palasa-ga  —  who  fight  without  pity. 
The  Leleges.  —  In  Sanscrit,  Lala-ga  —  who  march  spreading  fear. 

How  well  the  significations  of  these  words  accord  with  the 
taste  of  young  and  warlike  people  for  giving  themselves  names 
in  harmony  wdth  their  habits  ! 

The  Hellenes.  —  In  Sanscrit,  Hela-na  —  warriors,  worshippers  of  the 

moon.     Does  not  Greece  also  call  herself  Hellas  ? 
The  Spartans.  —  In  Sanscrit,  Spard/ia-ta  —  the  rivals. 

And  these  Sanscrit  words  which,  passing  into  Greece,  hav« 
become  the  names  of  celebrated  men : 


India's  relation  to  ANTiQumr.  ,  tf 

Pythagoras.  —  In  Sanscrit, /VMfl-^«r«  —  the  school-master. 
ANAXA30RAS.  —  In  Stmscrit.Ananga-guru  —  the  spirit-master. 
Protagoras.  —  Prata-gttru  —  the  master  distinguished  in  all  sciences. 

If  we  pass  from  Greece  into  Italy,  Gaul,  Germany,  and 
Scandinavia,  we  find  the  same  Sanscrit  origins : 

The  Italians.  —  From  Italus,  son  of  a  Trojan  hero.     In  Sanscrit,  ItajA 

—  men  of  low  castes. 
The  Bretii.  —  Bharata  —  people  of  the  artisan  castes. 
The  Tyrrhenians.  —  Tyra-na  —  swift  warriors. 
The  Sabines.  —  Sabha-na  —  the  warrior  caste. 
The  Samnites.  —  Samna-ta  —  the  banished. 
The  Celtes.  — Kalla-ta  —  the  invading  chiefs. 
The  Gauls.  —  Ga-lata  —  people  who  conquer  as  they  march. 
The  Belge.  —  Bala-ja  —  children  of  the  strong. 
The  Sequanes.  —  Saka-na  —  superior  warriors. 
The  Sicambres.  —  Su-kajn-bri  —  good  lords  of  the  land. 
The  Scandinavians  — Skanda-nava  —  worshippers  of  Skanda,  the  God 

of  Battles. 
Odin.  —  Yodin  —  the  chief  of  warriors. 
The  Swede.  —  Su-yodha  —  good  soldiers. 

Norway.  —  Nara-vaja  —  the  country  of  mariners,  or  men  of  the  sea. 
The  Baltic  —  Bala-ta-ka  —  sea  of  the  powerfid  conquerors. 
The  Alamanni  (Germans).  — Ala-manu  —  free  men. 
The  Valaques.  —  In  Sanscrit,  Vala-ka  —  the  servile  class. 
The  Moldavians.  —  Mal-dha-va  —  people  of  the  lowest  caste. 
Ireland.  — Erin  —  rocks  surrounded  with  salt  water. 
Thane  (or  ancient  Scottish  chief).  —  Tha-na  —  chief  of  warriors. 

In  Asia,  the  whole  dynasty  of  the  Xerxes  and  the  Artax- 
erxes  is  of  Hindoo  origin.  All  the  names  of  strong  places,  of 
cities,  of  countries,  are  nearly  pure  Sanscrit  Here  are  a  few 
examples  : 

Miu  —  The  lunar  Divinity  of  all  the  tribes  of  Asia  and  of  the  East.     Ii 

Sanscrit,  Ma  —  the  moon. 
Artaxerxes. — Artha-xatrias —  The  Great  King.    Was  he  not  so  called 

by  the  Greeks  ? 
Mesopotamia.  —  Madya-potama  —  country  between  rivers. 
CaS'"ABAJ^  (s5  rong  place).  —  Kastha-bala  —  impenetrable  strex^h. 


5®  THE   BIBLE    IN   INDIA. 

Zoroaster  (who  brought  sun-worship  into  Asia).  —  Sanscrit,  S^rya^iUrm 

—  who  teaches  sun-worship. 

But  enough  ;  it  would  require  volumes  properly  to  treat  this 
philological  question ;  moreover,  the  inquiry  is  now  wholly  ex- 
hausted in  the  domain  of  science,  and  it  is  no  novelty  to  trace 
to  Sanscrit  all  ancient  and  modern  languages  :  —  the  affiliation 
is  so  clear,  so  precise,  as  to  forbid  even  a  shadow  of  doubt. 

If,  then,  I  have  chosen  some  names  from  fabulous  and  heroic 
times,  and  from  the  principal  peoples,  ancient  and  modern, 
it  is  to  give  some  instances  that  may  exemplify  my  argument. 

None  of  these  names  of  heroes,  of  gods,  of  warriors,  philos- 
ophers, countries,  or  peoples,  have  any  signification  of  con- 
struction in  the  languages  to  which  they  belong,  and  as  it  would 
be  absurd  to  attribute  them  to  chance,  the  most  simple  and 
most  rational  solution  is  to  assign  them  to  the  Sanscrit,  which 
not  only  explains  them  in  their  grammatical  origin,  but  also  in 
their  symbolic  or  real  sense,  historic  or  figurative. 

Thus  the  populations  of  Hindoo  origin,  lonians,  Dorians,  and 
others,  pass  from  Asia  Minor  to  colonize  Greece  ;  they  bring  their 
cradle-recollections,  all  the  traditions  that  poetry  had  preserved 
to  them,  no  doubt  with  modifications  \  but  also  leaving  them  a 
stamp  so  special,  that  it  is  possible  for  us  to  recover  and  to 
explain  them  to-day,  maugre  the  ages,  which  passing  over  all 
these  things  have  fatally  enveloped  them  in  obscurity  and  ob- 
livion. 

Midst  the  souvenirs  of  these  colonists  of  a  new  soil,  appear 
in  the  first  rank  the  innumerable  exploits  of  the  god  of  war  of 
their  ancestors  the  Hindoos,  that  is  Siva ;  they  forget  the  name 
of  this  God,  who  does  not  even  possess  warlike  attributes  in 
the  mythology  of  Upper  Asia,  and  pieserve  to  him  only  the 
epithet  of  Hara-Kala,  which  Hindoo  poets  give  him  when  he 
presides  over  war. 

Hara-Kala,  the  nero  of  battles,  becomes  Hercules ;  and  the 
new  community  adopts  him  under  that  name,  and  Greek,  like 
Hindoo  fable,  continues  to  make  him  the  destroyer  of  lions, 


INDIA'S   RELATION   TO   ANTIQUITV.  3 1 

of  serpents,  of  hydras,  and  even  of  entire  armies ;  it  is  only  the 
tradition  that  continues  itself. 

Zeus,  God,  the  name  of  the  Hindoo  Trinity;  Biahma,  Visch- 
nou,  Siva,  is  preserved  without  alteration. 

Tha-Saha,  the  associate  of  Siva,  becomes  Theseus. 

Aha-ka,  Radha-manta,  Manarava,  A-tanaya,  Napatana,  Bala- 
na,  Palasa,  Andha-ra-meda,  Ari-ana,  become  -^acus,  Rhada- 
iiianthus,  Minerva,  Athenaia,  Neptune,  Bellona,  Pallas,  Andro- 
meda, and  Ariadne. 

Brahma,  also  called  Zeus-pitri,  God  the  Father,  becomes 
Jupiter ;  and  if  this  word  may  be  dissevered  in  Greek,  pre- 
serving the  sense,  it  is  that  this  language  has  retained  almost 
in  their  purity  the  two  Sanscrit  words  of  which  it  is  formed  — 
Zeus  and  Pitri,  in  Greek,  Zeus  and  Pater. 

Prata-guru,  and  Ananga-guru,  become  Protagoras  and  Anax- 
agoras  —  these  names  are  not  proper  names,  but  qualities  de- 
scriptive of  men  who  have  distinguished  themselves  in  science 
and  philosophy  ;  and  Pythagoras,  derived  from  Pitha-guru,  still 
better  proclaims  its  Oriental  origin,  in  propagating  in  Greece 
the  Hindoo  system  of  metempsychosis. 

And  so  of  the  rest,  all  the  names  of  antique  fable  have 
the  same  Hindoo  affinity  of  signification  and  of  origin.  It 
would  be  easy  to  follow  the  scent,  to  decompound  all,  and 
assign  them  their  etymology  of  words  and  of  meaning,  if  that 
were  the  principal  object  of  this  work. 

I  have  said  it  above,  others  will  dig  deeper  in  this  mine. 
There  is  here  an  immense  field  for  exploration  by  the  learned, 
and  I  should  not  have  even  touched  it,  had  I  not  reasonably 
thought  that  in  restoring  Biblical  revelations  to  India,  it  be- 
came necessary  loudly  to  demonstrate  that  this  adoption  from 
India  was  not  isolated,  and  that  all  peoples,  ancient  and  mod- 
em, derive  from  that  country  their  language,  their  historic  tradi- 
tions, their  philosophy,  and  their  legislation. 

What  I  have  said  of  the  names  of  heroes  and  demi-gods  of 
ancient  Greece,  applies  equally  to  the  names  of  more  modem 
peoples,  of  which  I  ha\  e  also  given  some  etymologies,  such  as 


5«  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

the  Bretii,  the  Tyrrhenians,  Samnites,  Celts,  Gauls,  Sequanes,  S*- 
cambres,  Scandinavians,^ Beige,  Norwegians,  Gennans,  Wallachs, 
Moldavians,  &c.  .  .  The  unity  of  race  of  all  these  peoples, 
their  community  of  origin,  becomes  then  indisputable,  and  it  ig 
clearly  from  the  vast  plains  that  stretch  along  the  base  of  the 
Himalayas  that  the  most  intelligent  of  the  two  races  that  people 
the  earth,  that  is,  the  white  race,  had  their  origin. 

Adopting  this  conclusion,  the  fabulous  halo  that  surrounds 
the  cradle  of  antiquity,  on  which  history  is  reduced  to  conjec- 
tures void  of  foundation,  explains  itself,  and  it  becomes  possi- 
ble to  clear  up  the  obscurity  of  the  past. 

From  the  several  comparisons  that  I  have  made,  it  comes 
out  that  all  the  heroes  of  ancient  Greece,  and  all  the  exploits 
that  made  them  illustrious,  are  but  souvenirs  of  India  preserved 
and  transmitted  by  poetry  and  tradition,  and,  later,  their  Hin- 
doo origin  lost  sight  of,  and  their  primitive  language  trans- 
formed ;  sung  and  celebrated  afresh  by  the  first  Greek  poets, 
as  pertaining  to  the  origin  of  their  own  proper  history. 

The  Olympus  of  the  Greeks  is  but  a  reproduction  of  the 
Hindoo  Olympus.  The  legend  of  Jason  and  the  Golden 
Fleece  is  still  in  every  mouth  on  the  soil  of  India ;  and  the 
Iliad  of  Homer  is  nothing  but  an  echo,  an  enfeebled  souvenir 
of  the  Ramayana,  a  Hindoo  poem  in  which  Rama  goes  at  the 
head  of  his  allies  to  recover  his  wife,  Sita,  who  had  been  car- 
ried off  by  the  King  of  Ceylon. 

The  chiefs  insult  each  other  in  the  same  style,  combat  on 
cars,  with  lance  and  javelin.  This  struggle,  in  like  manner, 
divides  gods  and  goddesses  ;  these  take  part  with  the  King 
of  Ceylon,  those  with  Rama ;  —  not  even  the  wrath  of  Achilles 
at  the  loss  of  Bris^is,  but  may  be  identified  in  this  immense 
poem. 

The  imitation  is  flagrant,  undeniable,  met  with  even  in  de- 
tails. The  epithet  Boopis  (ox-eyed),  which  Homer  constantly 
applies  to  Juno,  is  to  the  Hindoo  the  most  sublime  of  com. 
parisons ;    because,  without  however  being  adored  as  a  goc^ 


INDIA'S   RELATIOil    TO     INTIQUITY.  3J 

the  ox  is  the  animal  especially  revered  in  the  Hindoo  creed, 
and  the  epithet  is  wholly  inexplicable  in  Greek. 

Needless  to  say,  that  on  Homer  I  entirely  concur  in  the 
opinion  of  learned  Germans,  who  consider  the  works  of  thi? 
poet  as  a  succession  of  chants  or  rhapsodies,  preserved  b) 
tradition  and  collected  and  arranged  under  Pericles.  It  ij 
tile  only  conclusion  that  accords  with  the  genius  of  new 
peoples,  and  especially  of  people  of  Oriental  origin. 

With  ancient  fabulists  the  imitation  is  still  more  striking, 
and  we  may  say,  without  fear  of  being  taxed  with  exaggera- 
tion, that  -^sop  and  Babrias  have  but  copied  Hindoo  fable 
that  reached  them  through  Persia,  Syria  and  Egypt.  This 
latter  writer,  although  a  Greek  himself,  takes  care  at  the  com- 
mencement of  his  second  proem  to  claim  for  the  East  the 
merit  of  inventing  these  ingenious  apologues,  which  under  an 
amusing  form  often  suggest  profound  instruction : 

Mv^o?  jiiev,  GO  Ttai  ftadiXioai  ^AXs^avdpov, 
^vpoov  TtaXaiov  kdviv  Evprjjx  avS^pooTtoVf 
02  Ttpiv  Ttor  rj6av  e-Tti  Nivov  re  nai  BrjXov. 

"  Fable,  O  son  of  King  Alexander,  is  an  ancient  invention 
of  Syrian  men,  who  lived  in  former  times  under  Ninus  and 
Belus." 

It  is  sufficient  to  open  the  fables  of  the  Hindoo  Pilpay, 
of  the  Brahmin  Ramsamyayer,  of  ^sop,  of  Babrias,  and  of  La 
Fontaine,  to  see  that  they  all  proceed  the  one  from  the  other, 
and  that  the  Greek  and  modern  fabuHsts  have  not  even  given 
hemselves  the  trouble  to  change  the  action  of  these  little 
dramas. 

Thus,  at  each  step,  and  the  more  we  study  the  ancients 
the  more  obvious  appears  the  proposition  I  have  already 
advanced,  viz.,  that  antiquity  had  itself  an  antiquity  that 
inspired  and  aided  its  rapid  advancement  to  that  high  de- 
gree of  civilization,  artistic,  philosophic  and  hteraiy,  whicJ? 
in  its  turn  has  fertilized  modem  genius. 


54  THE    BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

"  How  many  wonJerf  il  facts,"  wrote  M.  Langlois,  the  tran» 
lator  of  Harivansa,   "we  have  to   learn   of  others." 

And  yet  Governmei:ts  exhaust  themselves  in  excavations, 
in  scientific  missions  to  Egypt,  Persia,  Africa,  and  the  learned 
build  clever  systems  on  broken  columns  and  inscriptions  I 
Of  course  this  is  not  without  use,  and  we  have  made  great 
progress  in  knowledge  of  the  past,  but  the  links  of  ihe 
chain  are  too  interrupted  to  admit  of  reconstruction.  Why 
not  send  to  India  to  explore  origins  and  translate  books  ? 
It  is  there  alone  the  truth  will  be  found. 

Wherefore  continue  to  cultivate  this  school  of  Athens, 
which  has  no  longer  a  raison  d'etre,  can  no  longer  afford 
the  faintest  service  ;  instead  of  replacing  it  by  a  Sanscrit 
school,  which,  founded  at  Pondichery  or  Karikal,  in  the  South 
of  India,  would   soon  render  important  services  to  science  ? 

In  support  of  the  theory  that  India  has  given  civiliza- 
tion to  the  world,  I  shall  now  rapidly  expose  the  most 
salient  points  of  Hindoo  legislation  —  legislation  which  we 
recover  entire  at  Rome,  bequeathed  to  her  by  Greece  and 
Egypt,  by  them  derived  from  primitive  sources. 

Obviously  we  can  here  only  give  some  succinct  hints ;  om 
whole  volume  would  be  insufficient  to  elaborate  the  sub- 
ject 

In  all  social  systems  the  most  important  matters  of 
legislation  are  marriage,  filiation,  paternal  authority,  tutelage, 
adoption,  property,  the  laws  of  contract,  deposit,  loan,  sale, 
partnerships,  donations,  and  testaments. 

We  shall  see,  on  examination,  that  these  divisions  have 
passed  almost  unaltered,  from  Hindoo  law  into  Roman 
law  and  French  law,  and  that  the  greater  part  of  their 
particular  dispositions  are  to-day  still  in  vigor. 

There  can  be  no  comment  or  possible  discussion ;  where 
tliere   is   a  text   there   is  no   room  for  dissent. 

The  Hindoo  laws  were  codified  by  Manou,  more  than 
three  thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era,  copied  by 
entire  antiquity,  and    notably  by  Rome,   which    alone    ha# 


INDIA'S   RELATION  TO   ANTIQUrtY.  3J 

left  US  a  written   law  —  the    code    of  Justinian,  which  has 
been  adopted  as  the  base  of  all  modem  legislations. 
Let  us  see  and  compare: 


BETROTHAL  —  MARRIAGE. 

Marriage,  by  the  Hindoo  law,  is  accomplished  by  the  giving 
of  the  woman  by  the  father,  and  her  acceptance  by  the 
husband,  with  the  ceremony  of  water  and  fire. 

The  same  form  at  Rome —  Leg.  66,  §  i.  Digest  of  Justinian. 
Virgini  in  hortos  deducted.  .  ,  .  Die  nuptiariim  priusquam 
ad  eum  transiret,  et  priusquam  aqua  et  igne  acciperetur^  id  est 
nupticB  celebrarentur,     .     .     .     obtulit  decern  aureos  dono. 

The  union  of  hands,  as  well  as  the  confarreatio  (or  eating 
the  bride-cake),  of  the  Roman  rite,  are  but  copies  of  ordinances 
of  Manou. 

In  Hindoo  marriage  two  different  epochs  are  to  be  considered 
' — the  betrothal  and  the  celebration  ;  the  betrothal  always  takes 
place  some  years  before  the  final  ceremony. 

The  same  usages,  the  same  distinct  periods,  relegated  to 
Rome. 

The  word  betrothal  {spo?isalia)  Leg.  2,  tit.  i.  1.  xxiii.  of  the 
Digest,  comes  from  the  word  to  promise  {a  spondendo),  for  it 
was  a  custom  of  the  ancients  to  stipulate  for  the  promise  of  a 
future  wife. 

"  Often,"  says  law  1 7,  under  the  same  head, "  sufficient  cause 
may  prolong  the  period  of  betrothal  not  only  for  one  or  two, 
but  even  for  three,  four,  or  more  years." 

The  consent  by  contract  required  by  Hindoo  law  was  also 
required  at  Rome  —  Law  2,  clause  ii,  sponsaha  sicut  nuptia 
consensu  contrahentium  fiunt. 

With  the  Hindoos  the  young  wife  remains  with  her  family 
until  the  age  of  puberty ;  the  father  then  sends  a  message  to 


35  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

the  husband  to  intimate  that  his  rights  have  conmienced,  and 
that  he  may  claim  his  wife. 

The  same  at  Rome  :  In  potestate  fnanente  filia,  pater  sponsd 
nuntium  remittere potest. — (Leg.  lo,  de  Sponsalibus.) 

Conducting  the  wife  to  the  house  of  her  husband,  was  in  In- 
dia, as  in  Rome,  the  final  ceremony  of  marriage  —  and  was 
celebrated  with  music  and  feasting. 

Marriages,  by  the  law  of  Manou,  are  prohibited  of  every  de- 
gree in  the  direct  line ;  and,  in  the  collateral,  to  the  seventh 
degree  on  the  paternal,  and  fifth  degree  of  the  maternal  line. 
Lastly,  the  father,  who  in  India  marries  his  daughter  to  any  one, 
after  having  betrothed  her  to  another,  is  held  infamous. 

Listen  to  the  Roman  law  (Leg.  13,  §  1.,  lib.  iii.) :  Item  si 
alteri  sponsa,  alteri  nupta  sit  ex  sententia  edicti  punitur. 

This  is  not  all.  The  Hindoo  spirit  is  found  to  govern  Roman 
law,  even  in  those  Haisons  which  modern  legislation,  except 
that  of  Brazil,  has  declined  to  recognize.  Concubinage,  toler- 
ated and  regulated  at  Rome,  is  another  Indian  institution  which 
the  Romans  adopted  in  deference  to  tradition :  the  strict  and 
pure  manners  of  primitive  times  would  never  have  inspired  the 
sanction  of  licentious  love. 

We  do  but  touch  here  upon  all  these  points  of  interest. 
What  important  critical  studies  might  not  a  deeper  exploration 
afford  us  of  those  admirable  laws  of  the  ancient  cradle  of  hu- 
manity ! 

One  word  more  and  we  have  done  with  marriage. 
Divorce,  legally  instituted  in  India,  was  the  same  in  Rome. 
Let  us  hear  from  the  Hindoo  legislator  the  causes  for  which  a 
woman  may  separate  from  her  husband  : 

*'  The  husband  may  be  abandoned  by  his  wife  if  he  is  crim- 
inal, impotent,  degraded,  afflicted  with  leprosy,  or  because  of  a 
prolonged  absence  in  foreign  countries." 

The  Roman  law  states  no  other  causes :  degradation,  -wviJ 
death,  impotence,  contagious  disease,  and  absence. 

In  India,  as  in  Rome,  the  adulterous  wife  loses  her  dowry 
The  nusband  is  not  obliged  tn  restore  it. 


INDIA  S   REi>ATION  TO  ANTIQC  TY.  37 

Thus,  in  this  very  important  part  of  law,  which  is  the  base  of 
societies  and  of  nations,  we  see  India  giving  lessons  by  which 
all  peoples  have  profited.  Let  us  pursue  these  comparisons, 
which,  although  summary,  are  neither  less  sure  nor  less  aiv- 
thentic. 


FILIATION,    PATERNAL    AUTHORITY,    TUTELAGE,    AND 

ADOPTION. 

The  rule,  Pater  is  est  quern  justed  nuptice  demonstrant,  ad- 
mitted as  an  axiom  in  Roman  law,  and  adopted  by  our  code, 
thus  expressed  in  Article  312,  "The  child  conceived  during 
marriage,  has  the  husband  as  father,"  is  thus  expressed  by 
Manou  : 

"  The  child  bom  in  a  house  belongs  to  the  husband  of  the 
woman." 

The  Hindoo  law  distinguishes  children  as  legitimate  and 
natural,  incestuous  and  adulterous.  Natural  children  have  a 
right,  though  a  small  one,  in  the  succession  of  their  parents. 
The  children  of  incest  or  adultery  can  claim  nothing  but  ali- 
ment. 

It  then  establishes  the  procedure  for  repudiation,  in  these 
terms  :  *'  If  from  circumstances  it  is  proven  with  certainty  that 
the  real  father  is  some  other  than  the  husband,  the  child  is 
adulterous,  and  deprived  of  all  rights  in  the  family."  Lastly,  a 
very  remarkable  disposition  is,  that  it  admits  the  legitimization 
of  a  natural  child  hy  subsequent  marriage  of  the  parents. 

We  may  say,  without  fear  of  error,  that  all  the  above  princi- 
ples, adopted  by  the  Roman  law,  still  form  the  substance  of 
the  laws  of  France  and  of  the  majority  of  European  nations. 
What  admiration  must  fill  the  thinker,  the  philosopher,  the  ju- 
risconsult, at  sight  of  legislation  so  wise,  so  simple,  so  practL 
4 


38  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

cal,  that  after  five  thousand  years  we  have  adopt^id  it,  finding 
nothing  superior  to  supplant  it  ■ 

As  with  filiation,  paternal  authority  presents  the  same  coin- 
cidence ;  what  it  was  in  In  lia  such  was  it  in  Rome. 

The  head  of  a  family,  says  Gibelin,  held  his  wife,  his  children, 
his  slaves  in  his  hand  by  the  right  of  master,  and  with  the  same 
power;  even  to-day  the  son  can  acquire  nothing,  possess 
nothing  that  his  not  his  father's. 

Whatever  his  age,  says  the  Hindoo  commentator  Catyayana, 
while  his  father  is  in  life  the  son  is  never  independent. 

As  to  tutelage,  the  principles  are  always  the  same  as  admit- 
ted and  now  recognized  in  the  Roman  law.  It  would  seem,  in 
truth,  that  instead  of  studying  India  we  are  in  reahty  upon 
modem  soil. 

Hindoo  law  admits  the  legal  tutelage,  first  of  progenitors, 
next  of  paternal  and  maternal  relations,  and  lastly //<2/2V^  guard- 
ianship, as  well  as  the  intervention  of  a  family  council  and  of 
pubUc  authority  for  protection  o^  the  person  and  property  of  a 
minor. 

It  may  be  noted  as  a  special  coincidence,  that  the  Hindoo 
legislator  prefers  male  to  female  tutelage,  as  long  as  male  rela- 
tives exist.  A  still  more  striking  accordance  is  that  the  mother 
forfeits  the  tutelage  of  her  children,  if,  being  a  widow,  she  mar- 
ries again  without  consent  of  a  family  council. 

We  may  conclude  our  glance  at  Indian  law  on  this  point  with 
a  word  on  adoption.  The  Hindoo  code  permits  adoption 
whether  to  introduce  a  child  into  a  childless  family,  or  from  mo 
tives  of  good-will  towards  the  adopted  himself  As  in  Roman 
law,  the  adoption  should  be  solemnized  in  presence  of  the 
family,  of  patriarchs,  Biahmins,  and  heads  of  caste. 

French  law,  in  adopting  the  usage,  has  sought  to  give  extra- 
ordinary solemnity  and  authenticity  to  the  act  in  requiring  that 
its  adoption  shall  only  be  permitted  after  consent  of  a  tribunal 
of  first  instance  and  of  a  superior  court. 

Once  adopted,  the  child  became  one  of  the  family,  wth  the 


INDIA'S   RELATION   TO   ANTIQUITY.  39 

ftams  rights  as  children  who  might  afterwards  be  bom.  The 
sar.ie  dispositions  in  Roman  and  French  law. 

Vridd'ha-Gautama,  annotated  by  Nanda-Pandita,  says  j 

"  If  there  exist  an  adopted  son,  of  good  disposition,  and  a 
legitimate  son  bom  afterwards,  let  them  equally  share  the  suo- 
cession  of  their  father." 

At  Athens  the  formula  of  adoption  was  : 

"  I  adopt  that  I  may  have  a  son  to  accomplish  on  my  tomb 
the  sacred  ceremonies,  to  perpetuate  my  race,  and  in  transmit- 
ting my  name  through  an  unbroken  chain  of  descendants,  confer 
upon  it  some  degree  of  immortality." 

Is  not  this  Greek  formula  of  adoption,  a  reproduction  of  the 
Hindoo  text  of  Manou  ? 

''  I,  who  am  \vithout  male  descendants,  hasten  with  solicitude 
to  adopt  a  son  for  the  continuation  of  funeral  ofiferings  and  sa- 
cred rites,  and  for  the  perpetuation  of  my  name." 

Let  us  remark,  in  conclusion,  that  the  Hindoo  law  was  the 
first  to  consider  marriage  as  an  indissoluble  bond.  Even  death 
did  not  dissolve  it,  for  in  the  castes  that  permitted  re-marriage 
of  widows,  it  was  only  in  cases  where  the  defunct  having  left  no 
children,  it  became  imperative  to  provide  for  him  a  son,  who 
should  accomplish  on  his  tomb  the  ceremonies  necessary  for  his 
salvation.  For,  in  Hindoo  theology,  the  father  can  only  attain 
the  abodes  of  the  blest  tlurough  the  expiatory  ceremonies  of  his 
son.  The  second  husband,  therefore,  was  only  permitted  as  a 
means  ,  the  child  begotten  by  him  was  not  his,  but  belonged  to 
and  inherited  the  property  of  the  defunct. 

Besides,  what  antiquity  wholly  overlooked,  but  what  we  can- 
not too  much  admire  in  India,  is  its  respect  for  women,  almost 
amounting  to  a  worship. 

This  extract  from  Manou  (lib.  iii.  sloca  55,  &c.,  &c.)  will  rot 
be  read  without  surprise  : 

"Women  should  be  nurtured  with  every  tenderness  and 
attention  by  their  fathers,  their  brothers,  their  husbands,  and 
Iheir  bro\hers-in-law,  if  they  desire  great  prosperity." 

**  Where  women  live  in  affliction,  the  family  soon  becomei 


THE  BIBLE  IN   INDIA. 


extinct ;  but  when  they  are  loved  and  respected,  and  cherishe(5 
with  tenderness,  the  family  grows  and  prospers  in  all  circum^ 
stances." 

"  When  women  are  honored,  the  divinities  are  content ;  but 
when  we  honor  them  not,  all  acts  of  piety  are  sterile." 

"  The  households  cursed  by  the  women  to  whom  they  have 
not  rendered  due  homage,  find  ruin  weigh  them  down  and  de 
stroy  them  as  if  smitten  by  some  secret  power." 

"In  the  family  where  the  husband  is  content  with  his 
wife,  and  the  wife  with  her  husband,  happiness  is  assured 
forever." 

This  veneration  of  woman  produced  in  India  an  epoch  of 
adventurous  chivalry,  during  which  we  find  the  heroes  of  Hin- 
doo poems  accomplishing  high  deeds,  which  reduce  all  the 
exploits  of  the  Amadis,  Knights  of  the  Round  Table,  and  the 
Paladins  of  the  Middle  Age,  to  mere  child's  play. 

Grand  and  peaceful  epoch !  which  India  has,  to-day,  some- 
what forgotten.  But  whose  the  fault,  if  not  those  brutal  and 
stupid  invasions,  which  for  ages  dispute  her  fine  and  fertile 
soil? 


PROPERTY,  CONTRACT,  DEPOSIT,  LOAN,  SALE,  PARTNER- 
SHIP,  DONATION,  AND  TESTAMENTARY  BEQUEST. 

The  Hindoo  laws  of  property  are  not  less  admirable  than 
those  of  the  person ;  they  proceed  with  a  largeness  of  new  and 
justness  of  discrimination,  unsurpassed  by  successive  modem 
legislations.  Those  laws,  collected  by  Rome,  are  stiii,  with 
little  alteration,  our  own. 

Jurisconsults,  of  our  times,  are  divided,  on  the  origin  of 
property,  between  two  systems ;  the  first  admit  tiie  right  of 
property  only  as  based  upon  natural  law,  and  would,  conscy 


INDIA'S   RELATION  TO   ANTIQUITY.  41 

qaently,  reduce  it  to  possession ;  the  others  consider  It  as  a 
social  necessity,  and  derive  it  from  legal  enactment. 

The  Hindoo  legislator,  who  proposes  to  himself  the  same 
question,  thus  resolves  it : 

'*  Where  occupatior  shall  be  proven,  but  where  no  kind  of 
title  shall  appear,  sale  cannot  be  admitted.  A  title,  and  not 
occupation,  is  essential  to  proprietorship."  —  {Manou,  lib.  viii., 
si.  200.) 

Such  the  principle  proprietorship  in  India  then  derived  from 
law.  It  is  the  same  idea  that  pervades  the  entire  economy  of 
our  codes. 

Passing,  then,  to  the  manner  of  acquiring  things  that  as  yet 
belong  to  no  one,  or,  as  from  their  nature,  have  but  an  acci- 
dental owner,  Manou  declares  that,  "  the  field  cultivated  is  the 
property  of  him  who  cleared  it  of  wood,  and  the  gazelle,  of  the 
first  hunter  that  mortally  wounded  it." 

Examining  in  course  the  nature  of  property  in  itself,  the 
Hindoo  law  divides  it  into  movable  and  immovable,  —  a  dis- 
tinction which  modem  legislators  have  adopted  without  change, 
but  which  was  rejected  by  the  Roman  law. 

Immovables  are  themselves  divided  into  immovables  from 
their  nature,  and  immovables  from  their  destination ;  then 
possessions,  in  connection  with  those  who  hold  them,  are 
classed  as  belonging  to  no  individual  and  as  belonging  to  all, 
—  as  pubhc  and  as  private  property.  The  Hindoo  law  decrees 
the  latter  alone  to  be  subject  to  commercial  transactions  be- 
tween individuals. 

"  Thus  all  classifications  of  properties,"  says  Gibelin,  "  ac- 
cording to  their  nature,  their  source,  their  tenure,  and,  lastly, 
the  rights  of  proprietorship,  are,  in  Europe,  so  many  traditions 
of  Oriental  legislation "  adopted  into  our  existing  raw,  as  mto 
Roman  law ;  provision  for  the  family,  the  adjustment  of  dis' 
posable  quotas,  contracts  not  only  in  their  essence,  but  also  ih 
fheir  appHcation;  in  fact,  all  those  principles  which  our  civil 
law  has  reduced  to  the  most  simple  expression,  by  fusion  of 
Roman  law  with  German  usage ;  that  is,  by  reunion  of  the 


49  THE    BIBIE   IN  INDIA. 

double  traditions  of  the  Hindoo  tribes  who  carne  to  people 
the  North  and  the  South ;  on  the  one  side,  by  Russia,  the  Scan- 
dinavian countries,  and  Germany,  and,  on  the  other,  by  Persia, 
Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome. 

In  India,  aU  transfer  of  property,  by  whatever  title  effected, 
conditional  or  gratuitous,  was  to  be  accomplished  with  the  forms 
of  donation ;  that  is,  by  delivery  of  gold  and  water  —  with  com 
and  grass  —  tila  et  cusa. 

The  gold  was  presented  by  the  vendor  or  donor  to  the 
purchaser  or  receiver,  to  ensure  his  satisfaction,  should  the 
property  prove  of  insufficient  value.  The  water  was  spilled, 
as  at  a  marriage,  in  sign  of  gift;  the  com  and  grass  were 
presented  as  part  and  produce  of  the  property,  in  sign  of 
transfer. 

And  here,  we  may  not  doubt,  were  learned  all  the  various 
formulas  of  solemnizing  contracts,  as  well  as  the  northern  cus- 
toms of  transfer  by  water  and  earth,  by  herb  and  branch.  On 
all  these  points,  we  are  constrained  to  recognize  the  influence 
of  Hindoo  law. 

We  shall  be  still  more  brief  in  our  few  remaining  glances  at 
Hindoo  legislation,  for,  taken  together,  we  have  already  said 
enough  to  justify  the  conclusions  we  pretend  to  draw  from  this 
summary  expose  of  the  Sanscrit  origin  and  general  principles 
of  Hindoo  jurisprudence. 

A  few  words,  however,  on  contracts,  donations,  and  wills, 
may,  perhaps,  not  be  ill-received  by  the  reader ;  in  fact,  the 
different  modes  of  engagement,  and  of  donations  between  the 
living,  or  because  of  death,  are  in  a  manner  still  more  striking, 
if  po.=>sible,  copied  in  their  principles  and  in  their  effects,  both 
by  the  Roman  law  and  by  modern  legislators. 

As  the  first  principle  necessary  to  the  validity  of  engage- 
ments, the  Hindoo  legislator  indicates  the  competence  of  uie 
parties. 

Women  in  the  pcwer  of  iiusbands,  children,  slaves,  and 
those  under  interdict,  are  incompetent. 

The  incapacity  absolute  fa-  children  and  slaves;  relativt 


INDIA'S    RELATION   TO   ANTIQUITY.  4J 

for  the  woman,  who  may  contract  with  the  authority  of  ha* 
husband,  and  for  the  interdicted,  whom  the  prohibition  simply 
subjects  to  the  authority  of  his  tutor. 

Observe,  en  passant^  this  striking  coincidence  with  French 
law,  that  the  Hindoo  wife,  in  default  of  her  husband's  authority, 
may  release  herself  from  her  incapacity,  by  authority  of 
justice. 

Besides  these  incapacities  which  may  terminate  by  a  change 
of  condition,  the  majority  of  the  minor,  or  the  emancipation  of 
the  slave,  for  instance,  the  law  establishes  others  founded  on  a 
particular  situation  of  persons.  —  {Digest  of  Hindoo  Laws,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  193,  and  Manou.) 

"  The  contract  made  by  a  man  who  is  drunk,  foolish,  imbe- 
cile, or  grievously  disordered  in  his  mental  condition,  by  an 
old  man  whose  weakness  is  abused,  and  by  all  persons  without 
power,  is  entirely  void." 

Manou  further  adds :  ''  What  is  held  under  compulsion  — 
held  by  force  —  is  declared  null'' 

Would  not  this  be  thought  a  mere  commentary  on  the  Code 
Napoleon  of  four  or  five  thousand  years  after  ? 

How  far  is  all  this  from  those  barbarous  customs  of  first 
ages,  when  every  question  was  solved  by  violence  and  force ; 
and  what  admiration  should  we  not  feel  for  a  people  who,  at 
the  epoch  at  which  Biblical  fable  would  date  the  world's  crea- 
tion, had  already  reached  the  extraordinary  degree  of  civili- 
zation indicated  by  laws  so  simple  and  so  practical ! 

Let  us  not  delude  ourselves :  the  best  criterion  of  the  condi- 
tion of  nations  is  their  written  law. 

We  shall  not  now  enter  into  the  minutiae  of  contracts  which 
would  be  perfectly  understood  in  their  details  and  consequences 
only  by  persons  connected  with  law.  Referring  such  reauers  to 
the  sources  themselves,  it  is  sufficient  for  us  to  state  that  guar- 
antee, •diary,  pledge,  rent,  lease,  hypothecation,  and  mortgage 
with  usufruits,  wholly  of  Hindoo  origin,  have  passed  successively 
into  Roman  and  P'rench  law  entire,  and  without  other  modificar 


44  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

tion  than  such  as  necessarily  result  to  nations  from  the  predom' 
inance  of  civil  over  religious  law. 

Still  more,  if  we  descended  into  details,  should  we  see  that 
all  the  pleas  recognized  by  Roman  and  French  laws  for  the  ex» 
tinction  of  obligations  had  been  foreseen  and  applied  by  Hin- 
doo legislation. 

So,  mutation,  remission  of  the  debt,  cession  of  property,  com- 
pensation, the  toss  of  the  thing  due  in  specified  cases,  actions 
to  annul  or  rescind,  by  possessor  or  claimant,  are  admitted  in 
India,  and  have  the  same  effect  as  with  us. 

To  whom  the  merit  of  priority  ?  That,  I  think,  cannot  be 
questioned. 

Listen  to  the  text  of  Smitri-Chaudrica,  authorizing  substitu- 
tion :  "The  creditor  may  transfer,  either  to  his  own  creditor  or 
to  a  third  person  who  releases  him,  the  pledge  delivered  by  his 
debtor  in  surety  for  debt,  with  the  voucher  that  establishes  it, 
but  in  making  mention  that  he,  the  debtor,  consents  to  all  these 
circumstances  of  the  transfer." 

And  this  other  formal  text  from  the  same  work  on  tender  and 
consignation :  "  If  the  creditor  refuse  to  receive  his  credit  when 
tendered  in  payment  by  the  debtor,  let  the  amount  of  his  debt, 
fruit,  money,  merchandise  or  cattle,  be  deposited  by  the  latter 
to  that  effect,  in  the  hands  of  a  third  person,  and  the  interest 
shall  cease  to  accrue  as  soon  as  the  deposit  is  effected." 

"  This  procedure  affords  acquittal." 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  interesting  work  of  comparison  to 
which  a  jurisconsult  might  devote  himself,  and  still  more  to 
demonstrate  in  a  manner  more  evident,  that  the  laws  of  Rome, 
as  well  as  our  own,  are  but  a  copy  of  antique  Indian  jurispru- 
dence, we  shall  now  collate,  according  to  Gibelin,  texts  of  the 
three  legislations  on  deposit,  loan  at  usury  or  interest,  or  with- 
out interest. 

Hindoo  Text :  Catyayana, —  "  What  is  lent  from  good- will  bears  no  in- 
terest." 
Civil  Code,  Art.   1876. — "A.  loan  of  convenience  is  essentially  grat air 


India's  relation  to  ANTiQuiry.  45 

Roman  Law. —  "Commodata  res  tunc  proprie  intelligitur,  si  nulla  mer. 
cede  accepta  vel  constituta,  res  tibi  utenda  data  est." 

Hindoo  Text :  Catyayana. —  **  If  the  thing  perish  by  its  own  vice,  thf 
borrower  is  not  responsible,  unless  there  is  fault  on  his  part." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1884. — **  If  the  thing  deteriorates  from  the  sole  effect 
of  the  usage  for  which  it  is  borrowed,  and  without  any  fault  of  the  bor^ 
rower,  he  is  not  answerable  for  the  deterioration." 

Roman  Law. —  **  Quod  vero  senectute  contigit,  vel  morbo,  vel  vi  latro- 
nimi  ereptum  est,  aut  quid  simile  accidit,  dicendum  est  nihil  eorum  esse  im- 
putandum  ei  qui  commodatum  accipit,  nisi  aliqua  culpa  interveniat." 

Hindoo  Text :  Catyayana. —  **  When  a  thing  lent  on  usage  for  a  definite 
time  is  reclaimed  before  the  term  or  accomplishment  of  the  said  usage,  tbfl 
borrower  cannot  be  forced  to  restore  it." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1888.— "The  lender  cannot  withdraw  the  thing  lent 
before  the  covenanted  term,  or  in  default  of  convention,  until  after  it  has 
served  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  borrowed." 

Roman  Law. — **  Adjuvari  quippe  nos,  non  decipi  beneficio  oportet." 

Hindoo  Text :  Catyayana. —  *'  But  where  the  interests  of  the  owner  may 
be  compromised  by  an  urgent  need  of  the  thing  lent,  the  borrower  may  be 
forced  to  restore  it  even  before  the  stipulated  time." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1889. — "Nevertheless,  if  in  the  interval,  or  before  the 
"borrower's  need  is  over,  an  urgent  and  imforeseen  want  of  the  thing  should 
come  upon  the  lender,  the  judge  can,  according  to  circumstances,  oblige  the 
borrower  to  return  it  to  him." 

Hindoo  Text:  Narada. —  "When  a  man,  in  confidence,  entrusts  his 
effects  to  another,  on  condition  of  restitution,  it  is  an  act  of  deposit." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1915. —  **  Deposit  in  general  is  an  act  by  which  we  re- 
ceive the  property  of  another,  in  charge  to  preserve,  and  to  restore  it  as 
leceived." 

Roman  Law, — **  Depositum  et  quod  custodiendum  alicui  datum  est." 

Hindoo  Te:  t :  Vrihaspati. —  '*  The  depositary  who  allows  the  thing  de- 
posited to  be  destroyed  by  his  negligence,  while  preserving  his  own  property 
%vith  a  care  altogether  different,  will  be  forced  to  pay  its  value  with  inter- 
est." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1927. —  *'  The  depositary  shall  bestow  on  preservation 
of  the  things  deposit«xi  the  same  care  as  he  bestows  on  the  preservation  01 
things  belonging  to  himself." 

Roman  Law. —  "Nee  enim  salva  fide  minorem  iis  quam  suis  rebus  dili- 
gcntiam  prsestabit." 

Hindoo  Text :  Yajnyawalcya  . —  "The  depositary  will  not  restore  what 
bas  been  destroyed  by  the  King,  by  Providence,  or  by  thieves.     But  if  thif 


46  THE   BIBLE   IN   IVDIA. 

loss  follows  after  his  refusal  of  restitution  on  demand,  he  shall  return  ^ 
value  of  the  deposit,  and  pay  a  fine  of  equal  amount." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1929. —  "The depositary  is  not  liable  in  any  case  fof 
accidents  from  superior  force,  imless  he  has  made  a  delay  in  returning  the 
thing  deposited." 

Roman  Law. —  **  Si  depositum  quoque,  eo  die  depositi  actum  sit  periculo 
ejus,  apud  quem  depositum  fuerit,  est  si  judicii  accipiendi  tempore  potuit, 
id  reddere  reus,  nee  reddidit." 

Hindoo  Text,  Id.  — **  If  the  trustee  use  the  trust  without  consent  of  tLe 
proprietor,  he  shall  be  punished  and  forced  to  pay  the  price  of  the  thing* 
deposited  with  interest." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1930. —  "  He  may  not  make  use  of  the  thing  deposited 
without  the  permission  expressed  or  understood  of  the  depositor." 

Roman  Code. —  **  Qui  rem  depositam,  invito  domino,  sciens  pnidensque, 
in  usus  convertit,  etiam  furti  delicto  succedit." 

Hindoo  Text :  Id. —  ••  What  is  enclosed  in  a  box  deposited  in  the  hands 
of  a  trustee  without  any  declaration  of  its  contents,  should  be  unknown, 
and  so  restored." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1931. —  **He  should  not  seek  to  know  the  things  that 
have  been  deposited,  if  they  have  been  confided  to  him  in  a  closed  box  or 
imder  a  sealed  envelope." 

On  the  same  question,  Manou  further  says : 

"  In  the  case  of  a  sealed  deposit,  the  trustee  who  would  escape  censure, 
should  restore  it  to  the  depositor  without  changing  the  seal." 

Hindoo  Text:  Manou. —  "The  deposit  shall  be  restored  as  received, 
both  in  quality  and  quantity." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1932. —  "  The  depositary  should  restore  identically  the 
thing  deposited. ' ' 

Hindoo  Text :  Manou. —  "If  the  deposit  is  seized  by  thieves,  attacked 
by  vermin,  carried  away  by  water,  or  consumed  by  fire,  the  depositary  \% 
not  liable  for  its  restoration,  unless  the  loss  or  deterioration  is  the  result  of 
his  act." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1933. —  "The  trustee  is  only  bound  to  restore  the  thing 
deposited  in  the  condition  in  which  it  may  be  found  at  the  moment  of  resti- 
tution. Deteriorations,  which  have  not  occurred  from  his  fault,  are  at  tha 
charge  of  the  depositor. " 

Roman  Code. —  '*Ouod  vero  senectute  contigit,  vel  morbo,  vel  vi  latro* 
num  ereptum  est,  nihil  eorum  esse  imputandum  nisi  aliqua  culpa  inter- 
veniat." 

Hindoo  Text :  Vrikaspati. —  "  Whatever  profit  the  depositary  may  de> 
live  imok,  the  object  deposited  he  should  restore  with  it." 


TNDIA'S   relation  to   ANTIQXnTY.  47 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1936. —  **If  the  thing  deposited  has  produced  profit* 
that  have  been  received  by  the  depositary,  he  is  obliged  to  restore  them. " 

Roman  Law, —  **Hanc  actionem  bonae  fidei  esse  dubitari  non  cportet. 
Et  ideo,  et  fructus  in  hanc  actionem  venire,  et  omnem  causam,  et  partam 
dltendum  est  ne  nuda  res  veniat." 

Hindoo  Text :  Vrihaspati.  -  **  The  thing  deposited  should  be  restored 
to  him  who  deposited  it. ' ' 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1837. —  **  The  depositary  should  not  restore  the  thing 
deposited,  except  to  the  person  who  confided  it  to  him. " 

Hindoo  Text :  Manou. —  "  The  trustee  cannot  be  arraigned  by  any  one 
when  he  restores  the  deposit  to  the  heir  of  a  dead  depositor." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1939. —  **In  case  of  the  natural  or  civil  death  of  the 
depositor,  the  thing  deposited  may  only  be  given  up  to  his  heir. " 

Hindoo  Text :  Manou. —  **In  the  place  where  the  deposit  was  delivered, 
there  must  it  be  restored. ' ' 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1943. —  *'  If  the  contract  names  no  place  of  restitution, 
•t  should  be  made  at  the  place  of  deposit." 

Hmdoo  Text:  Vrihaspati. —  "Let  the  trustee  guard  the  deposit  with 
care,  and  restore  it  on  the  first  demand  of  the  depositor." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1943. —  **  The  deposit  should  be  restored  to  the  depos- 
itor whenever  he  reclaims  it." 

Roman  Code. —  Est  autem  apud  Julianum  .  .  .  scriptum,  eum  qui  rem 
deposuit,  statim  posse  deposit!  actionem  agere.  Hoc  enim  ipso  dolo  facerc 
evmi  qui  suscepit  quod  reposcenti  rem  non  dat," 

Hindoo  Text :  Manou. —  *'  He  who  does  not  restore  a  deposit  after  hav- 
ing received  it,  is  declared  infamous  by  the  law." 

Civil  Code,  Art.  1945. —  "The  unfaithful  depositary  is  not  admitted  t« 
the  benefit  of  acquittance." 

Is  it  necessary  longer  to  continue  these  studies  and  compari- 
sons, and  is  it  possible  to  make  demonstration  more  clear, 
especially  if  we  bear  in  mind  the  ages  that  separate  us  from  this 
epoch,  and  the  necessary  transformations  that  all  these  things 
have  undergone? 

These  approximations  might  be  made  throughout  all  juris- 
prudence ;  we  should  constantly  find  Hindoo  legislation  rational, 
philosophic,  complete,  and  worthy  on  all  poinvo  to  give  birth  to 
the  written  law  of  the  world. 

Sale,  donations,  testaments  of  which  we  have  seen  the  gen- 
eral principles,  would  present  us  the  same  logical  filiation  in 


4o  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

detail,  the  same  points  of  contact,  the  same  basis,  enlightened 
by  the  strictest  good  sense. 

Source  of  all  modern  laws  on  matter,  scarce,  here  and  there 
some  few  changes,  which  attach  to  difference  of  manners,  cli- 
mate, civilization,  and  but  serve  better  to  demonstrate  the  con- 
nection ;  for  ancient  and  modern  legislations  only  there  depart 
from  those  of  India,  where  new  matters  have  imperatively  ex- 
acted other  laws. 

The  legislator  Manou,  whose  authenticity  is  incontestible, 
dates  back  more  than  three  thousand  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era ;  the  Bralimins  assign  him  a  still  more  ancient  epoch. 

What  instruction  for  us,  and  what  testimony  almost  mate- 
rial, in  favor  of  the  Oriental  chronology,  which,  less  ridiculous 
than  ours  (based  on  Bibical  traditions),  adopts,  for  the  formation 
of  this  world,  an  epoch  more  in  harmony  with  science  ! 

We  are  no  longer  of  the  times  to  incur  risk  of  stake  and  fag- 
got for  contradicting  a  text  of  the  Bible  or  of  Aristotle.  But 
we  should  recollect  that  the  regime  of  the  middle  ages  has  be- 
queathed us  an  innumerable  assemblage  of  opinions  and  ready- 
made  ideas,  from  which  we  have  the  greatest  difficulty  in  dis- 
embarrassing ourselves. 

In  vain  science,  at  first  timidly,  then  boldly,  has  made  itself 
the  demolisher  of  all  these  prejudices,  its  advance  is  slow ;  and 
as  the  grown  man  never  succeeds  in  completely  forgetting  th0» 
tales  that  have  amused  his  cradle  —  so  are  western  nations  inct 
pable  of  rejecting  certain  fables  of  past  ages,  as,  it  must  bd 
confessed,  they  are  equally  incapable  of  believing  them. 

There  are  certain  ideas  discussed  freely  in  society,  which  we 
should  blush  to  belifive  on  conscientious  examination ;  for  when 
alone  with  himself,  man  always  exacts  serious  reasons  for  his 
convictions. 

If  agitated  or  discussed  in  public,  a  hundred  voices  rise  to  cry, 
haro.  "That  must  not  be  touched!"  is  heard  from  all  sides. 
And  wherefore  ?  Respect  this,  respect  that !  Again,  where- 
fore ?  We  have  a  love  for  old  things,  and  it  revolts  ns  to  change 
our  old  habits. 


INDIA'S   RELATION  TO  ANTIQUITY.  49 

If,  for  example,  one  should  happen  to  say  that  the  chronol- 
ogy that  assigns  to  the  world's  creation  a  date  of  only  six  thou- 
sand years,  is  absurd  nonsense,  what  tempests  would  he  not 
raise  in  certain  camps,  and,  the  knife  at  his  throat,  he  must 
give  mathematical  reasons,  wliile  they  think  it  right  to  oppose 
only  fables  and  sacred  texts  ! 

Let  us  release  ourselves  from  all  this  load  of  timid  creduli- 
ties, and  we  shall  then  comprehend  that  it  does  not  belong  to 
us  Western  people,  the  last-comers,  proudly  to  fix  the  origin  of 
the  world  by  the  light  of  souvenirs  of  yesterdays  birth,  and  thus, 
by  a  stroke  of  the  pen,  to  erase  the  civilization  and  history  of 
the  Oriental  peoples  who  have  preceded  us  by  some  thousands 
of  years  upon  earth.  More  logical  than  ourselves,  these  peo- 
ple, who  might  have  been  content  with  their  antiquity,  pro- 
fessed themselves  the  issue  of  other  peoples  who  had  preceded 
them,  and  who  had  become  extinct  from  a  series  of  cataclysms 
similar  to  that  of  which  all  existing  notions  retain  a  souvenir. 

Be  it  as  it  may,  we  are  constrained  to  admit,  in  considering 
these  admirable  laws,  organizing  society,  the  family,  property, 
exhibiting,  in  a  word,  the  most  advanced  civilization,  that  this 
progress  could  no  more  have  been  accomplished  in  a  day  by  the 
Hindoos  than  by  ourselves,  and  that  ages  would  J^  required  to 
realize  it. 

A  few  brace  of  centuries  led  ancient  and  modem  nations  to 
this  condition,  thanks  to  the  Asiatic  light  that  came  to  direct, 
and  abridge  for  them  the  period  of  gestation.  But  how  much 
longer  must  that  period  have  been  for  Orientals,  even  in  admit- 
ting their  opinions,  that  they  too  had  precursors  to  light  their 
coming  way  ? 

The  more  I  advance  in  these  comparative  studies,  the  more 
obvious  does  it  become  that  all  peoples  and  civilizations  pro- 
ceed as  fatally  from  preceding  peoples,  as  do  sons  from  fathers, 
as  the  inferior  links  of  a  chain  hang  from  the  superior  links; 
and  that  however  obscure  may  be  this  filiation,  those  ties  which 
connect  them,  it  is  easy,  with  the  aid  of  patient  and  unpreju- 
diced research,  to  re-attach  them  the  one  to  the  other. 
5 


50  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

There  is,  certainly,  here  no  new  idea  of  which  to  claim  th« 
merit  Modern  histcry  has  already  guessed  its  cradle  and 
struggles  against  those  mediaeval  legacies  which,  in  controUing 
thought,  have  so  long  retarded  the  advance  of  intelligence  tow- 
ards a  more  free  and  more  rational  conprehension  of  the 
past. 

A  few  words  on  Hindoo  philosophy  and  religion,  which  alike 
rest  upon  the  Vedas,  or  Sacred  Scriptures. 

In  point  of  authenticity,  the  Vedas  have  incontestible  prece- 
dence over  the  most  ancient  records.  These  holy  books  which, 
according  to  the  Brahmins,  contain  the  revealed  word  of  God, 
were  honored  in  India  long  before  Persia,  Asia  Minor,  Egypt, 
2nd  Europe,  were  colonized  or  inhabited. 

"We  cannot,"  says  the  celebrated  Orientalist,  Sir  William 
Jones,  "refuse  to  the  Vedas  the  honor  of  an  antiquity  the  most 
distant."  But,  at  what  epoch  were  they  composed  ?  Who  theii" 
author  ?  We  may  revert  to  times  the  most  primitive,  interro- 
gate the  most  ancient  records  of  the  human  race,  and  it  is  still 
impossible  to  solve  these  questions ;  all  are  silent  on  the  sub- 
ject. Some  authors  retroject  their  composition  to  the  first 
periods  after  the  Cataclysm ;  but,  according  to  the  Brahmins, 
they  are  anterior  to  creation ;  they  were,  says  the  Sama-Veda, 
formed  of  the  soul  of  him  who  exists  by,  or  of,  himself. 

The  Vedas  are  four  in  number :  the  Ritch-Veda,  the  Sama- 
Veda,  the  Yadjou-Veda,  and  the  Atharva-Veda.  Only  a  few 
fragments  of  these  books  have  been  translated  and  made  known 
to  the  learned  world  ;  ere  long  an  English  translation,  due  to  the 
labors  of  the  Calcutta  Asiatic  Society,  will  permit  their  collected 
study. 

Hindoo  philsosphy  is  divided  into  orthodox  and  heterodox 
ystems. 

Among  the  most  celebrated  authors  of  orthodox  philosophy,  or 
rather  of  Brahminical  theology,  DjeminyandRichna  Dwipayna- 
Vyasa  appear  in  the  first  rank — the  latter  commonly  known 
under  the  name  of  Veda-Vyasa,  because  he  is  said  to  have  col. 
lected  the  scattered  pages  of  the  four  Vedas. 


INDIA'S   RELATION  TO  ANTIQUITT.  $t 

Djeminy  was  of  the  Sunnyasi  or  mendicant  class,  clotl-ed  in 
j^llow  and  carrying  staff  and  bowl.  Vyasa  it  appears  sacri- 
ficed more  to  things  of  this  world,  and  enjoyed  in  India  a  repu- 
tation as  poet,  at  least  equal  to  that  of  philosopher.  Sir  W. 
Jones  speaks  of  him  with  veneration. 

The  works  of  these  two  authors  who  have  sustained  the 
scholastic  philosophy  of  India  are  known;  that  of  Djeminy, 
under  the  name  of  Pourva-Mimansa ;  and  that  of  Vyasa,  under 
the  title  of  Outtara-Mimansa,  or  Vedanta. 

Their  object  is  not  only  to  comment  upon  the  Vedas,  and 
determine  their  meaning,  but  Djeminy  also  treats  of  casuistry ; 
and  the  work  of  Vyasa  contains  a  dialectique  in  the  manner  of 
Aristotle,  with  a  psychology  where  the  author  pushes  scepticism> 
and  idealism  to  the  point  of  denying  the  existence  of  a  material 
world. 

It  is  the  system  of  Pyrrho  entire.  Without  doubt,  this  phil- 
osopher, who  had  travelled  in  India,  had  from  intercourse  with 
Brahmins,  brought  back  this  prmciple,  that  all  is  illusion  —  save 
only  God  himself 

The  Pourva-Mimansa  exhibits,  besides,  a  great  affinity  with 
the  mysterious  dogma  of  the  philosopher  of  Samos,  which  Plato 
had,  in  fact,  adopted. 

According  to  Djeminy,  all  is  harmony  in  the  universe,  all  a 
perpetual  concert ;  God  himself  is  a  harmonious  sound,  and  all 
the  beings  he  has  created  are  but  modifications  of  his  premier- 
ship. 

From  this  system  of  sounds  naturally  flows  that  of  numbers, 
to  which  the  Mimansa  attributes  a  mysterious  power.  The 
numbers  one  and  three  are  the  symbol  of  the  Trinity,  in  unity,, 
the  sign  of  the  three  attributes  of  the  Divinity  —  creation,  pre& 
ervation,  and  transformation  by  destruction. 

It  is  in  the  same  sense  that  the  priest  of  Memphis,  in  Egypt,, 
explained  the  number  three  to  the  novice,  by  intimating  that 
the  Premier  Monad  created  the  Dyad,  who  engendered  the 
Triad,  and  that  it  is  this  Triad  that  shines  throughout  Nature. 

The  number  two  expresses  androgynous  Nature,  the  active 


52  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

and  the  passive,  the  generating  power,  base  of  all  saaed  le. 

gends,  source  whence  mythographers  have  extracted  their  ira« 
mense  variety  of  fables,  of  symbols,  and  of  ceremonies. 

"When  the  Sovereign  Power  Divine,"  says  Manou,  "had 
finished  the  work  of  Creation,  he  was  absorbed  in  the  spirit  of 
God,  and  thus  exchanged  his  period  of  energy  for  a  period  of 
repose." 

We  shall,  later,  occupy  ourselves  more  specially  with  thij 
idea  of  the  Trinity,  and  indicate  whence  acquired  by  all  reli- 
gions, without  distinction. 

The  authors  of  the  two  Mimansas  have  equally  treated  on 
questions  the  most  abstract,  the  efficacy  of  works,  Karma; 
Grace,  Isvara-Parasada ;  Faith,  Sradha ;  and  freedom  of  judg- 
tnent ;  and  raised  the  question  of  the  nominalists  and  realists, 
long  before  Abeilard  and  William  de  Champeaux. 

This  was  in  India  the  epoch  of  fervent  faith,  the  epoch  when 
all  science,  philosophy,  and  morale  were  sought  in  a  text  of 
Holy  Scripture. 

We  shall  recur  to  all  these  questions,  treated  by  Djeminy 
and  Veda-Vyasa,  and  which  after  them  agitated  Christian  phil- 
osophers. 

Of  the  Sastras  and  the  Mahra-Barada,  which  profess  the 
same  doctrines,  the  dates  are  lost  in  the  night  of  time.  If 
we  are  to  accept  the  chronology  of  the  Brahmins,  as  calculated 
by  tlie  learned  Orientahst  Halhed,  they  must  possess,  the  first 
an  antiquity  of  seven,  and  the  second  of  four  millions  of  years 
—  a  chronology  which  strikes  point  blank  at  all  our  European 
ideas  ot>  matter. 

Such  things  easily  excite  laughter,  especially  in  France,  the 
country  ot  superficial  spirits  and  of  inconsiderate  affirmations. 
We  have  made  a  little  world  for  ourselves,  dating  from  scarce 
six  thousand  years,  and  created  in  six  days ;  that  satisfies  all, 
and  needs  no  thought. 

Some,  it  is  true,  have  of  late,  with  the  aid  of  science,  tried 
to  change  these  six  days  into  six  epoclis.  The  margin  is  large, 
thousands  of  years  may  have  sHpped  in  between  each  epoch; 


India's  relation  to  antiquitt.  53 

this  idea  shakes  hands  with  that  of  the  East.  But  open  wide 
your  ears,  and  you  -will  hear  partisans  of  the  past  hurUng  from 
all  sides  denunciation  against  this  advanced  guard  of  61ite,  and 
bespattering  it  -with  their  mud  brooms. 

Ah !  let  us  guard  against  Ultramontanism,  if  we  would  not 
end,  like  the  Hindoos,  in  demoralization  and  stolidity. 

The  Sastras  are  not  the  only  works  that  claim  such  antiquity ; 
according  to  Hindoo  philosophers,  the  laws  of  Manou  were 
also  estabhshed  in  the  Crida-Youga,  or  first  age.  The  Sourya- 
Sidanta  would  retro-date  many  millions  of  years,  and,  on  this 
subject,  Halhed,  the  translator  of  the  Sastras,  makes  the  re- 
mark, that  no  people  possess  annals  of  an  authority  so  incon- 
testible  as  those  transmitted  to  us  by  the  ancient  Brahmins,' 
and,  in  support  of  his  assertion,  mentions  a  book  written  more 
tnan  four  thousand  years  ago,  which  gives  a  retrospective  his- 
tory of  the  human  race  of  many  millions  of  years. 

This  chronology  has  nothing  of  exaggeration  for  Hindoos; 
on  the  contrary,  it  logically  accords  with  their  belief,  which  ad- 
mits the  existence  of  matter  from  all  eternity  with  God. 

What  nation  has  conceived  more  ideas,  agitated  more  ques- 
tions, or  discussed  more  problems?  The  development  of 
thought,  the  progressive  march  of  the  sciences  have  taken 
nothing  from  the  value  of  the  philosophic  speculations  of  those 
men,  so  far  removed  from  us. 

Legislation,  morale^  metaphysics,  psychology,  all  have  they 
penetrated  —  fathomed  all. 

When  we  explore  the  monuments  of  their  literature,  when 
ve  open  those  vast  philosophic  magazines  whence  radiate,  on 
all  sides,  the  primordial  lights  that  attest  a  high  civilization,  we 
are  struck  with  that  majestic  image  of  the  Divinity,  which  poet, 
historian,  legislator,  and  philosopher  cease  not  to  place  before 
the  eyes  of  men,  in  claiming  their  belief  in  his  immediate 
Providence. 

It  is  not  until  after  raising  the  spirit  towards  God,  after  offer- 
ing to  him  the  affectionate  devotion  of  grateful  hearts,  that 
they  proceed.     The  doctrines,  the  theories,  the  sublime  con- 


54  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

ceptions  of  these  sages,  lead  us  to  a  most  profoucd  adiniratioa 
for  their  faith  and  their  belief. 

"The  Ganges  that  flows,"  says  the  Sama-Veda,  "it  is  God, 
the  sea  that  roars,  it  is  him  ;  the  wind  that  blows,  it  is  him ;  the 
cloud  that  thunders,  the  lightning's  flash,  it  is  him ;  as  from  adl 
eternity  the  world  was  in  the  spirit  of  Brahma,  so  to-day  all  that 
exists  is  his  image." 

Manou,  before  inviting  Brighou  to  reveal  to  his  disciples  the 
Maha-Richis,  his  immortal  laws,  begins  by  explaining  to  them 
the  attributes  of  the  Divinity,  and  the  mysteries  of  Creation. 
In  the  same  way,  the  author  of  the  Maha-Barada  unveils,  in 
majestic  language,  by  the  mouth  of  the  Divine  son  of  the  Vir- 
gin Devanaguy,  to  the  astonished  Ardjouna,  all  the  sublime 
ideas  of  Hindoo  Deism.  And  the  Sastras,  of  which  we  have 
above  spoken,  lead  the  reader  at  once  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
superior  Intelligence  who  created  all,  arranged  all,  with  power 
infinite  and  uncontrolled. 

But  after  these  first  ages  of  fervent  faith,  of  belief  without 
question,  soon  came  the  worship  of  pure  reason,  which,  without 
rejecting  ancient  revelation,  would  only  admit  it  purified  by 
freedom  of  judgment. 

This  liberty  necessarily  begat  the  most  diverse  systems ;  side 
by  side  with  the  spiritualists  appeared  the  sceptics,  whose  theo- 
ries were  revived  by  the  ancient  Pyrrhoniens,  and  in  our  own 
days,  by  the  disciples  of  Montaigne  and  of  Kant — without  the 
merit,  on  the  part  of  these  latter,  of  a  single  additional  argu- 
ment. 

The  Sankya  philosophy,  whose  founder  was  Kapila,  formerly 
ignored  the  Divine  Creation;  it  maintains  that  there  is  no 
proof  of  the  existence  of  a  spiritual  cause  that  gave  birth  to 
the  universe;  further,  that  it  is  neither  demonstrated  by  the 
senses,  nor  by  reasoning,  that  is,  neither  by  perception,  nor  by 
induction,  two  of  the  three  criteria  of  truth,  by  which  accord 
ing  to  it  we  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  things.  For  fhe  nature 
of  the  cause  and  of  the  efiect  being  the  same,  it  results  thaJ 


INDIA'S    RELATION  TO   ANTIQUITY.  5f 

diat  which  does  not  exist  cannot,  by  any  possible  operation  of 
a  cause,  receive  existence. 

An  argument  analogous  to  that  employed  by  Leucippus,  Lu 
cretius,  &c.,  that  to  create,  God  must  construct  the  world  out 
of  naught,  and  that  it  is  not  possible  to  extract  something  from 
nothing. 

Yet  Kapila  recognized  a  plastic  force  inherent  in  nature, 
a  being  proceeding  from  her,  special  attribute  of  matter,  and 
the  source  of  all  individual  intelligence. 

From  the  opposing  actions  of  the  creative  quality  and  the  de- 
structive quality  proceeds  operative  force,  or  movement,  which 
itself  possesses  three  distinctive  qualities  :  ist,  the  plastic;  2d, 
the  repulsive ;  3d,  the  inert. 

Such  the  subtleties  in  which  the  play  of  Oriental  imagina- 
tion indulged  in  those  early  times. 

Hindoo  philosophers  are  very  elaborate  in  examination  of 
these  three  qualities,  or  inseparable  attributes  of  Nature,  and 
which  intrinsically  permeate  all  that  exists.  They  are  not  mere 
accidents  of  Nature,  says  Gautama,  in  his  Treatise  of  Philoso- 
phy, but  they  form  its  essence  and  enter  into  its  composition. 

The  first  is  the  presence  of  all  that  is  good,  and  the  absence 
of  all  that  is  evil. 

The  last  is  the  absence  of  all  that  is  good,  and  the  presence 
of  all  that  is  evil. 

The  middle  quality  partakes  of  the  two  others. 

Let  us  remark  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Sastras  most  surpris* 
ingly  resembles  the  system  of  many  philosophers  of  antiquity. 
Empedocles  admitted,  as  the  principle  of  things,  four  elements ; 
but  he  at  the  same  time  recognized  the  principle  of  concord 
and  the  principle  of  discord. 

Plato  taught  that  Love  was  the  most  powerful  of  the  Gods, 
the  true  creator,*  and  that  he  was  bom  of  Chaos. 

The  Strics  had  recourse  to  a  unique  substance  producing 

*  "  Ajite  Deos  et  ooanes,  primum  generavit  amorem.** 
5* 


56  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

the  four  elements,  and  the  philosopher  of  Stagyra  admitted 
a  fifth,  to  which  he  assigned  the  origin  of  the  soul. 

Energy  or  mobility,  according  to  the  Sastras,  in  allianc* 
with  time  and  goodness,  engender  matter,  the  great  sub- 
stance, the  Maha-Bouda ;  and  the  shock  of  opposing  currenti 
fo  matter  produced  that  subtle,  celestial,  luminous  element 
called  Agasa — a  pure,  electric,  vivifying  fluid  diffused  in 
space. 

Thus  affection  is  the  universal  mother,  the  first  cause  and 
supreme  generatrix  of  the  universe. 

As  spouse  of  Brahma,  quiescent,  unrevealed,  enveloped 
in  darkness,  as  expressed  in  the  Maha-Barada,  it  is  Bavahny, 

As  spouse  of  Brahma,  passing  from  quiescence  into  action, 
animating  matter,  and  manifesting  himself  by  creation,  it 
is  Braluny. 

As  spouse  of  Vischnou,  preserver  and  restorer,  it  is 
Latchoumy. 

As  spouse  of  Siva,  destroyer  and  reproducer,  it  is 
Parvady. 

The  Vedas  consider  Brahma  as  having  sacrificed  himself 
for  creation,  to  produce  or  create  creation.  Not  only  does 
God  become  incarnate  and  suffer  for  our  regeneration  and 
restoration,  but  He  even  immolated  Himself  to  give  us 
existence. 

"Sublime  idea,  which  we  find  expressed,"  says  M.  de 
Humboldt,  "  in  all  the  sacred  books  of  antiquity." 

Hence,  as  expressed  in  the  sacred  books : 

^'■Brahma  is  at  once  both  sacrificer  and  victim^  so  that  the 
priest  who  o£iciates  each  morning  at  the  ceremonies  of  the 
Sarvameda,  the  universal  sacrifice,  symbolic  of  creation,  tn 
presefiting  his  offeri?ig  to  God,  identifies  himself  with  the 
Divine  Sacrificer,  who  is  Brahma.  Or  rather,  it  is  Brahma^ 
victim  in  His  Son,  Christna,  who  came  to  die  on  earth  for 
cur  salvatioft,  who  Himself  accomplishes  the  solemn  sacri- 
fice." 

These  last  lines  present  points  of  curious  and   delicatt 


INDIA'S  RELATION  TO  ANTIQUITV.  57 

Comparison;  but  I  will  only  touch  upon  this  subject,  with 
hands  full  of  proof,  in  the  chapter  to  be  specially  devoted 
to  it,  and  that,  with  the  impartiality  of  a  free  spirit  that 
seeks  only  scientific  truths,  careless  of  the  odium  it  may 
provoke. 

When  the  Ruler  of  worlds  saw  the  surface  of  the  eartk 
enamelled  with  exquisite  flowers,  the  fields  and  meadow* 
covered  with  vegetation,  and  Nature  beaming  with  youth 
and  vitality  scatter  all  her  treasures  over  the  globe.  He  sent 
the  Holy-Spirit,  the  Word,  His  First-begotten,  who  proceeded 
to  the  creation  of  animals  and  of  man. 

The  God,  say  the  Sastras,  presented  himself  provided  with 
an  infinite  variety  of  forms  and  a  multitude  of  organs — strik- 
ing image  of  that  almighty  power,  that  supreme  wisdom, 
which  no  spirit  can  conceive,  and  of  which  no  man  has  been 
able  to  measure  the  extent  nor  to  fathom  the  depth. 

To  man  he  gave  the  five  organs  of  touch,  sight,  smeU 
taste,  and  hearing,  and  a  sixth,  admitted  by  all  HindoD 
philosophers,  and  called  Mamas,  which  is  the  agent  ir>  uniop 
of  the  sexes. 

The  followers  of  Boudha,  who  was  the  reformer,  the  Luthei 
of  Brahminical  theocratic  authority,  and  whose  doctrines 
spread  over  the  north  of  Upper  Asia,  in  Tartary,  China,  and 
even  to  Japan,  recognized  neither  the  sixth  sense  nor  the  fifth 
element.  —  It  is  one  of  the  many  points  on  which  they  differ 
with  the  orthodox. 

The   Sankyan   philosophy  thus    defines  it,   "an  organ  by 
affinity,  partaking  the  properties  of  others,  and  which  serves 
t  once  for  sensation  and  action." 

We  know  that  Aristotle  also  admitted  the  sixth  sense. 

The  ancients  were  divided  in  opinion  about  the  souls  of 
brutes :  the  Platonists  accorded  them  reason  and  understand- 
ing, but  in  a  less  degree  than  man;  the  Peripatetics  but 
allowed  them  sensation. 

The  Sastras  not  only  promise  man  immortality  in  heaven, 
but  aJ^o  loudly  claim  for  animals   immortality  of  soul  and 


58  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

existence  in  a  futare  life.  Hence,  without  doubt,  the 
doctrine  of  metempsychosis,  which,  from  India  where  it 
was  firs;  conceived,  spread  to  the  rest  of  Asia  and  to 
Greece. 

These  works  consider  individual  souls  as  emanations 
from  the  supreme  soul  of  the  universe,  as  a  portion  of  the 
divine  essence;  —  at  the  hour  of  decomposition  thej  are 
reabsorbed  into  the  bosom  of  God,  as  the  rain-drop  that 
falls  upon  the  sand  returns  into  the  immense  ocean,  or, 
adopting  the  beautiful  simile  of  the  Vedas,  "  they  are  sparks 
that  return  to  the  immortal  centre  from  which  they  were 
emitted." 

Only  the  souls  of  those  unsoiled  in  either  heart  or  hand 
by  sin  or  crime,  meet  and  reunite,  after  shaking  off  mortality, 
with  the  divinity  where  the  sentiment  of  individuality  is  lost 
in  the  general  beatitude;  while  the  guilty,  after  expiating 
their  crimes  in  hell,  undergo  several  migrations,  and  re-enter 
into  the  spiritual  nature  of  Brahma  only  after  being  purified 
from  their  transgressions. 

The  soul  that  returns  to  animate  a  new  body,  says  the 
Vedanta,  loses  its  first  form,  and,  like  the  rain-drop  that 
traverses  the  air  to  give  strength  and  life  to  the  plant  on 
which  it  falls,  it  penetrates  the  embryo-animal  that  it  comes 
to  animate  and  vivify. 

As  we  see,  the  eternity  of  punishment  is  a  dogma  which, 
as  we  think  with  reason,  Hindoo  philosophers  do  not  admit ; 
crime,  whatever  it  be,  apart  from  successive  migrations, 
may  and  ought  to  be  expiated  by  chastisement  until  the 
purified  soul  may  be  judged  worthy  of  boundless  felicity  by 
reunion  with  the  Great  Whole,  that  "spreads  undivided, 
operates  unspent,"  —  the  soul  of  the  universe. 

Faithful  echo  of  Oriential  doctrines,  Plato  had  the  same 
ideas  on  the  soul's  destiny  and  the  life  to  come;  he  con- 
sidered it  a  ray  from  the  supreme  ictelligcnce  to  which  it 
should  retuiTij  and  the  faculty  of  merging  itself  uiV)  tlie  divinity 


INDIA'S   RELATION  TO   ANTIQUITY.  5f 

was  regarded  by  him  as  the  reward  of  purity  —  which  he 
denied  to  the  impure. 

We  may  conclude  from  this  rapid  sketch,  that  the  traces 
of  Hindoo  philosophy  which  appear  at  each  step  in  the 
doctrines  professed  by  the  illustrious  men  of  Greece,  abun- 
dantly prove  that  it  was  from  the  East  came  their  science, 
and  that  many  of  them,  no  doubt,  drank  deeply  at  the  primi 
tive  fountain. 

Is  it  posible  more  clearly  to  demonstrate  the  undeniable 
influence  exercised  by  India  over  the  rest  of  the  world,  and 
notably,  on  antiquity,  by  its  language,  its  legislation,  and  its 
philosophy?  It  would,  we  think,  require  singularly  robust 
and  unintelligent  powers  of  negation  to  dare  maintain  in 
the  face  of  such  resemblances,  I  may  say,  of  such  facsimiles^ 
that  Greece  and  Rome  owe  nothing  to  India,  and  that  they 
attained  the  civilization  which  we  know,  by  their  own  initiation, 
their  own  energy,  and  their  own  genius. 

We  readily  admit  that  Rome  was  inspired  by  Greece, 
Greece  by  Asia-Minor  and  Egypt;  why  not,  especially  after 
the  forcible  proofs  we  have  given,  continue  the  same  logical 
argument,  and  accept  India  as  the  initiatrix  of  ancient 
peoples  ?  there  is  in  it  neither  paradox  nor  ingenious  specu- 
lative theory,  but  merely  a  truth  which  is  making  its  way, 
which  all  great  Orientalists  have  long  acknowledged,  and 
which  will,  we  think,  be  rejected  only  by  men  of  a  certain 
party  because  too  forcible  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  iden- 
tity of  origin  of  the  traditions  and  religious  revelations  of 
all  peoples. 

If  India  is  truly  the  cradle  of  the  white  race,  mothers  of 
different  nations  that  occupy  Asia,  a  part  of  Africa  and 
Europe ;  if  in  proof  of  this  filiation  we  find,  as  well  in  anti- 
quity as  in  modem  times,  the  ineffaceable  traces  of  this 
origin  bequeathed  us  in  her  language,  her  legislation,  het 
literature,  b*r  philosophic  and  moral  sciences,  does  it  not 
become  eviaent  that  religious  traditions,  modified  under  the 
hand  c^  time  and  the  action  of  free  thought,  must  have  also 


THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 


come  thence?  For  they  are  the  recollections  that  ernigianl 
people  preserve  most  fondly,  as  holy  ground  between  the 
new  and  the  old  country,  where  repose  the  ashes  of  those 
ancestors  whom  they  shall  see  no  more. 


CHAPTER  11. 

MANOU MANES  —  MINOS MOSES. 

A  philospher  gives  political  and  religious  institutions  to  India, 
alid  is  named  Manou. 

The  Egyptian  legislator  receives  the  name  of  Manes. 

A  Cretan  visits  Egypt  to  study  the  institutions  with  which  he 
desired  to  endow  his  country,  and  history  preserves  his  memory 
under  the  name  of  Minos. 

Lastly,  the  liberator  of  the  servile  caste  of  Hebrews  founds 
a  new  society  and  is  named  Moses. 

Manou,  Manes,  Minos,  Moses,  —  these  four  names  over- 
shadow the  entire  ancient  world,  they  appear  at  the  cradles  of 
four  different  peoples  to  play  the  same  r61e,  smTOunded  by  the 
same  mysterious  halo,  all  four  legislators  and  high  priests,  all 
four  founding  theocratic  and  sacerdotal  societies. 

That  they  stood  in  the  relation  to  each  other  of  predecessor 
and  successor,  however  distant,  seems  proven  by  simiHtude  of 
name  and  identity  of  the  institutions  they  created. 

In  Sanscrit  Manou  signifies  iheman^par  excellence^  the  legis- 
lator. 


India's  relation  to  ANTiQumr.  6l 

Manes,  Minos,  Moses,  do  they  not  betiay  an  incontestible 
unity  of  derivation  from  the  Sancrit,  with  the  slight  variations 
of  different  periods,  and  the  different  languages  in  which  thej 
are  written  —  Egyptain,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  ? 

We  have  here  the  clue  that  should  guide  our  reti  ospective 
researches  through  all  ancient  civilizations,  through  all  revela- 
tions and  religious  traditions  to  their  true  Indian  sources,  in 
those  myths  and  fables  of  every  kind  that  surround  the  infancy 
cf  most  peoples,  and  which  history  has  piously  recorded  and 
thus  authenticated,  instead  of  denouncing  and  relegating  them 
to  the  domain  of  poetry  and  of  fiction. 

With  such  aid  have  the  ambitious  subjugated  and  ruled  the 
peoples  in  ancient  times ;  with  the  aid  of  such  recollections  is 
their  subjugation  sought  to-day. 

Manou,  as  the  convenient  instrument  of  priests  and  Brah- 
mins, became  the  starting  point  of  the  ruin  and  abasement  of 
ftis  country,  stilled  under  a  corrupt  and  egotistical  theoc- 
racy. 

His  successor.  Manes,  in  subjugating  Egypt  to  priestly  dom- 
ination, prepared  for  its  stagnation  and  oblivion. 

And  Moses,  adopting  with  like  success  the  despotic  r61e  of 
his  precursors,  could  only  make  of  his  nation,  so  pompously 
proclaimed  "  The  people  of  God  ! "  a  herd  of  slaves,  well  disci- 
plined to  the  yoke,  and  constantly  carried  off  into  servitude  by 
neighboring  populations. 

A  new  era  arose  —  but  the  purified  religious  idea  of  Christian 
philosophy  becoming  soon  sacerdotalized,  its  heritors  issue  from 
the  catacombs  to  mount  thrones,  and  from  that  moment  apply 
themselves, without  relaxation,  to  invert  the  master-principle, 
and  to  substitute  for  the  sublime  words  — 

"My  kingdom  is  net  of  this  world:"  this  other,  which 
threatens  to  make  its  way, 

*^The  entire  world  is  our  kingdom." 

Let  us  beware ;  the  times  of  Brahminism,  of  Sacerdotalism, 
of  Levitism,  m  India,  in  Egypt,  in  Judea,  present  nothing  to 
conapwe  with  the  flames  of  the  Inquisition,  the  Vandois  massO' 
8 


63  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDUL 

cres,  or  St.  Bartholomew's,  for  which  Rome  made  St.  Peter'f 

resound  witli  a  Te  JDeum  of  exultation  ! 

Henry  of  Germany,  Emperor  and  King,  passing  three  days 
with  his  feet  in  the  snow,  his  head  bowed  down  under  the  vul- 
gar hand  of  a  fanatic  priest,  had  no  parallel  midst  votaries  of 
Brahma,  of  Isis,  or  of  Jehovah.     Let  us  beware  ! 

'89  came  to  give  the  signal  of  struggle  between  those  who 
would  make  God's  law  their  guide  to  liberty  and  progress, 
and  those  who  profess  to  avail  themselves  of  the  laws  of  God 
to  destroy  both  progress  and  liberty. 

No  weakness !  Let  us  look  back,  and  see  if  we  would  desire 
to  end  like  the  nations  of  antiquity. 

Let  us  foster  the  faith  that  thanks  God  for  the  reason  he  has 
given  us.  Let  us  spurn  the  faith  that  would  make  of  God  an 
instrument  to  subjugate  reason. 


CHAPTER  IIL 

WHAT  THE   LESSONS   OF   HISTORY   ARE   WORTH. 

The  author's  indignant  denunciations  of  the  "Lessons  of 
History;"  — "The  Grand  Voice  of  History,"  — "The  Impar- 
tiality of  History," — &c.,  &c.,  however  forcibly  just,  are  not 
essential  to  the  translators  purpose,  and  therefore  omitted. 


niDTA'S  WILATION  TO  ANXIOUnV. 


CHAPTER  rv.  i 

■RAHMmiCAL   PERVERSION   OF   PRIMITIVE   VEDISM.  —  CREATION 

OF  CASTES  —  Divide  et  impera. 

Never  did  a  civilization  exist  so  especially  constructed  to 
brave  ages,  and  to  survive  invasions  of  every  kind,  as  the 
Brahminical  Society  still  in  effective  operation  to-day,  maugre 
the  loss  of  its  ancient  prestige  and  political  power. 

Whence,  then,  came  those  Brahmins  who  spoke  a  language 
the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  perfect,  — who  so  penetrated, 
analyzed,  investigated  in  every  fonn  the  problem  of  life,  as  to 
leave  nothing  for  innovation,  either  to  antiquity  or  modem  times, 
in  the  domain  of  literary,  moral  and  philosophic  sciences  ?  — 
Whence  came  these  men  who,  after  having  studied  all,  obscured 
all,  reversed  all,  and  reconstructed  all,  had  come  in  final  solu- 
tion of  the  problem,  to  refer  all  to  God,  with  a  faith  the  most 
vital,  and  thereon  to  build  up  a  theocratic  society  which  has 
had  no  equal,  and  which,  after  more  than  five  thousand  years, 
still  resists  all  innovation,  all  progress; — proud  of  its  institu- 
tions, of  its  beliefs,  and  of  its  immobility  ? 

We  shall  see  that  it  was  the  model  of  all  ancient  societies, 
who  copied  it  more  or  less  literally,  or  rather  who  preserved  the 
traditions  borne  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe  by  successive 
emigrations. 

The  Brahminical  policy  of  investing  themselves  with  the 
prestige  of  divine  authority,  has,  of  course,  had  constant  imita- 


•4  THE   BIBLE   IN  UfClA. 

tors,  and  with  the  world's  history  before  us,  we  may  safely  say 
that  since  then  God  has  been  but  a  docile  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  the  priest. 

It  was  the  inflexible  law,  that  from  no  consideration  what, 
ever,  by  no  brilliant  action  or  service  performed,  could  the 
individual  obtain  release  from  the  caste  in  which  he  was  bom, 
and  hence,  agitated  by  no  suggestions  of  ambition,  no  hope  of 
amehoration  presenting  itself  to  stimulate  his  energy,  the  Hin- 
doo, whose  every  step,  every  act,  from  birth  to  death  was 
checked,  regulated  by  customs  and  laws,  sunk  into  that  life  of 
dreams,  of  religious  superstition,  of  fanaticism,  and  of  material- 
ism in  which  he  still  exists,  and  which  still  impels  him  to  reject 
all  change  as  an  evil,  all  progress  as  a  crime. 

Unquestionably,  the  Brahmins  thus  prepared  for  themselves 
a  nation  easy  to  govern,  powerless  to  shake  off  the  yoke,  and, 
even  without  energy  to  complain,  they  long  enjoyed  honors 
and  devotion,  riches  and  respect.  But  from  the  day  when 
northern  populations  cast  a  jealous  eye  upon  the  riches  and 
splendor  of  Hindostan,  from  the  day  when  Mongol  invasion 
led  its  flying  hordes  against  them,  in  vain  they  tried  to  defend 
themselves,  all  their  efforts  were  powerless  to  inspire  for  the 
struggle  those  people  of  whom  they  had  made  a  herd  of  slaves, 
whom  they  had  enervated  to  assure  their  domination.  The 
Ichatrias  alone  marched  to  death,  but  without  power  to  retard 
the  fatal  hour  of  common  wreck.  And  the  Brahmins,  while  in 
their  pagodas,  imploring  a  God,  powerless  to  save  them,  saw  the 
prestige  of  their  name  and  their  political  power  crumble  away, 
thanks  to  the  very  precautions  they  had  adopted  to  preserve 
them. 

India  has  since  been  the  classic  ground  of  invasions,  and  its 
people  have  submitted  without  murmur  to  each  newly  imposed 
yoke,  perhaps  even  they  may  have  gladly  assisted  the  overthrow 
of  those  high  castes  which  had  so  long  ruled  them. 

We  read  in  the  preface  to  a  Treatise  on  Legislation  by 
Narada,  written  by  one  of  his  adepts,  a  client  of  Brahminical 
power :     "  Manou  hav:*ng  written  the  laws  of  Brahma  i©  one 


IKDIA'S  RELATICN  to  ANTIQUnT.  6$ 

hundred  thousand  slocas  or  distichs,  which  fonned  twenty-fom 
books  and  a  thousand  chapters,  gave  the  work  to  Narada,  the 
sage  of  sages,  who  abridged  it  for  the  use  of  mankind,  to  twelve 
thousand  verses,  which  he  gave  to  a  son  of  Bhrigou  named 
Soumati,  who  for  the  g*-eater  convenience  cf  men  reduced  them 
to  four  thousand." 

Mortals  read  only  the  abridgment  of  Soumati,  while  the  gods 
of  the  inferior  heaven,  g,nd  celestial  musicians,  study  the  primi- 
tive text. 

"  It  is  clear,"  adds  Sir  William  Junes,  *^  that  the  laws  o' 
Manou,  such  as  we  possess  them,  and  which  comprise  but 
2,680  slocas,  cannot  be  the  work  attributed  to  Soumati,  which 
is  probably  that  described  under  the  name  of  Vriddha-Manava, 
or  ancient  code  of  Manou,  which  has  not  yet  been  entirely  re- 
constructed, although  many  passages  of  the  book  have  been 
preserved  by  tradition,  and  are  often  cited  by  commentators." 

It  was  above  all  important  to  the  Brahmins  that  castes  should 
never  infringe  the  Hne  of  demarcation,  to  form  a  united  people 
who  might  claim  their  independence.  With  this  view  they  pro- 
hibited, not  only  marriages  between  diiferent  castes,  but  also 
all  associations,  all  re-unions,  of  whatever  nature. 

They  may  not  even  pray,  eat,  or  amuse  themselves  but  with 
people  of  their  own  condition,  under  penalty  of  degradation 
and  of  banishment. 

Manava-Dharma-Sastra^  lib.  x.,  slocas  96  &  97:  —  "Let  the 
man  of  low  birth,  who  lives  by  pursuing  the  occupations  of  the 
superior  classes,  be  on  the  instant  deprived  by  the  king,  of  all 
he  possesses,  and  banished." 

"  It  is  better  to  accomplish  peculiar  class  functions  defect- 
ively, than  perfectly  to  fulfil  those  of  another,  for  he  who  lives 
by  pursuing  the  occupation  of  another  caste,  at  once  loses  his 
own." 

This  prohibition  affected  Brahmins  and  kings  as  rigorously 
as  those  of  low  extraction.  We  can  conceive  that  the  necessity 
was  still  more  urgent  to  guard  against  bad  example  coming 
from  above. 


(6  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

Manava-JDharma-Sastra,  lib.  x.,  slocas  91,  &c.  :  —  "If  thf 
Brahmin  makes  himself  a  merchant  of  corn,  instead  of  prepar 
ing  it  for  his  food  and  for  oblations,  let  him  and  his  descend- 
ants come  again  in  the  body  of  a  vile  worm,  in  the  excrement 
of  a  dog." 

"  If  he  sells  salt,  or  flesh,  or  lac,  he  incurs  degradation ;  if 
he  sells  milk,  he  sinks  at  once  into  the  caste  of  the  Soudras." 

"If  he  sells  other  merchandise,  less  derogatory,  at  the  end 
of  the  seventh  day  he  becomes  a  Vaysias." 

"  The  Brahmin  should  rather  beg  than  reduce  himself  to  the 
level  of  the  artisan,  by  the  slightest  handiwork." 

The  same  work — sloca  102,  &c.  :  — "The  Brahmin,  who 
has  fallen  into  distress,  should  accept  from  any  one ;  for,  ac- 
cording to  the  law,  it  cannot  happen  to  the  perfectly  pure,  to 
be  defiled." 

"  In  teaching  the  Holy  Scripture,  in  directing  sacrifices,  in 
receiving  presents  in  these  forbidden  cases,  the  Brahmina 
commit  no  fault ;  if  they  are  miserable,  they  are  as  pure  as 
water,  or  as  fire." 

"  He  who,  finding  himself  in  danger  of  death  from  starvation, 
receives  food  from,  no  matter  whom,  is  no  more  soiled  by  sin, 
than  is  the  subtle  ether  by  mud." 

"  Adjigarta  being  famished,  was  on  the  point  of  destro)ring 
his  son  Sounahsepha ;  yet  did  he  render  himself  guilty  of  n<« 
crime,  for  he  sought  relief  from  famine." 

The  commentator  CoUouca-Batta  says  that  Adjigarta  bound 
his  son  to  a  stake  to  sacrifice  him  as  a  burnt  offering  to  the 
Lord,  who,  satisfied  of  his  obedience,  arrested  his  arm.  We 
shall  recur  to  this  legend,  which  will  even  find  its  place  in 
Bibhcal  beginnings. 

"Vamaddva,  who  could  perfectly  distinguish  between  good 
8ind  evil,  did  not  become  in  the  least  impure,  from  having, 
at  a  moment  when  pressed  by  hunger,  desired  to  eat  the  flesb 
of  unclean  animals." 

"  The  rigid  penitent  Phaxailwadja,  alone  with  his  son  in  a 


India's  relation  to  ANnQumr.  67 

desert  forest,  and  tormented  by  hunger,  accepted  several  coti  s 
from  the  humble  artisan  Vridhou." 

"  Viswamitra,  who  was  a  holy  person  sinking  from  want, 
resolved  to  eat  the  thigh  of  a  dog,  which  he  had  received  from 
a  grave-digger." 

We  may  see  from  these  passages  how  strictly  Brahmins  were 
interdicted  from  all  pursuits  that  might  derogate  from  their 
prestige  in  the  eyes  of  the  multitude. 

It  was  the  same  for  kings  and  all  the  other  castes ;  there  was 
no  crime  equal  to  that  of  attempting  to  change  the  situation, 
punished  in  this  world  by  degradation  and  infamy,  and  in  the 
other  by  the  migration  of  souls,  defiled  by  this  transgression, 
into  the  bodies  of  tlie  vilest  animals. 

From  this  moment  the  brilliant  civilization  of  India  is  arrested 
Ignorance  takes  possession  of  the  masses,  who  forgetful  of  their 
glorious  past,  dreaming  only  of  sensual  gratification,  plunge  into 
the  most  shameless  corruption,  encouraged  by  the  priests  to 
maintain  their  own  influence. 

And  Brahmins  reserved  to  themselves  those  ancient  philo- 
sophic, moral  and  religious  traditions,  which  became  the  privi- 
leged study  of  their  caste,  and  a  means  of  holding  kings  under 
their  control  by  the  double  prestige  of  respect  for  religion  and 
for  learning. 

For  the  simple  and  pure  worship  of  primitive  revelation  and 
of  the  Vedas,  they  gradually  substituted  for  the  masses  the  ado- 
ration of  numerous  personages  who,  under  the  name  of  Devas,. 
or  angels  and  saints,  were  regarded,  some  as  imcaediate  agents 
between  God  and  his  creatures,  others  as  Brahmins,  who,  after 
having  lived  in  the  practice  of  "very  virtue  on  earth,  had  gone 
to  be  absorbed  in  the  Divinity. 

Brahma,  the  pure  Divine  essence,  had  soon  no  more  altars, 
and  the  prayers  of  mortals,  to  reach  him,  were  to  be  addressed 
to  those  inferior  beings  whose  images  peopled  pagodas  and 
temples,  and  of  which  Boudha  came  later,  to  attempt  the  over- 
throw,  by  a  reform  not  without  analogy  to  that  attempted 
by  Luthei  in  after  times. 


6$  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

This  was  the  most  terrible  blow  struck  at  ancient  Hindoa 
Society,  the  finishing  stroke  to  that  work  of  decay  and  decrepi- 
tude whose  effects  we  shall  soon  have  occasion  to  study. 

The  priest  shut  himself  up  in  dogma  and  mystery,  professing 
himself  the  sole  guardian,  the  only  dispenser  of  truth  in  matters 
moral  and  religious,  and  calling  to  his  aid  the  civil  laws,  which 
placed  themselves  servilely  at  his  disposal,  banished  freedom 
of  thought  and  reason,  bent  all  will,  all  liberty  under  faith,  and 
finally  conceived  the  famous  adage,  which  has  since  made  its 
sufficiently  successful  way:  "That  there  was  nothing  more 
agreeable  to  God  than  to  believe  without  understanding ;  to 
bow  down  without  knowledge ;  than  to  bring  to  the  temple's 
porch  an  intelligence  void  of  that  which  constitutes  intelligence 
—  the  rational  belief  of  examination  and  comprehension." 

We  shall  presently  see  Egypt,  Judea,  Greece,  Rome,  all 
antiquity,  in  fact,  copy  Brahminical  Society  in  its  castes,  its 
theories,  its  religious  opinions ;  and  adopt  its  Brahmins,  its 
priests,  its  levities,  as  they  had  already  adopted  the  language, 
legislation  and  philosophy  of  that  ancient  Vedic  Society 
whence  their  ancestors  had  departed  through  the  world  t« 
disseminate  the  grand  ideas  of  primitive  revelation. 


INDTA'S   REIJITION  TO  ANTiQUlTr. 


CHAPTER  V. 


WHENCE   COMES   THE   PARIA,  THE   SCAPE-GOAT   OF  THE   EAST, 

Ancient  India,  while  recognizing  the  right  of  society  to  puiv 
ish  its  members  for  faults  and  crimes  committed  against  it,  had 
not  the  same  notions  of  that  right  as  modem  peoples,  nor  the 
same  mode  of  application. 

To  Brahminical  legislators,  certain  essential  faculties  of  the 
physical  and  intellectual  nature  of  man,  could  not  be  touched 
by  this  right  without  dishonoring  the  divine  work ;  and  in  ap- 
plication of  these  ideas,  which  may  not  perhaps  be  studied 
without  interest  by  thinkers  and  philosophers,  they  regulated 
all  repression  by  a  penalty. 

Thus,  powerless  to  control  man's  moral  liberty,  —  that  is,  his 
faculty  of  thought,  they  equally  forbid  restriction  of  his  personal 
liberty,  as  alike  the  work  of  God. 

Hence  arose  a  penal  system,  which,  although  it  too  had  its 
influence  on  antiquity,  was  not  adopted  to  the  same  extent,  by 
all  the  nations  of  that  epoch,  and  has  wholly  disappeared  from 
modern  codes. 

The  penalties  applied  by  ancient  Hindoo  law  posterior  to 
that  of  the  Vedas,  are  :  — 

I  St.  Death ;  2d.  Degradation  from  a  superior  to  an  inferior 
caste ;  3d.  Entire  rejection  from  all  caste ;  4th.  The  bastonade 
and  tortures ;  5th.  Purification  and  sacrifices ;  6th.  Fine. 


7©  Tmr  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

The  prison  was  wholly  unknown  to  these  primitive  legisla 
tors,  and  consistently  with  their  principle  that  the  hand  of  man 
should  stop  where  the  work  of  God  began,  they  only  recognized 
the  lawfulness  of  capital  punishment  in  excessively  rare  cases, 
and  almost  solely  for  crimes  affecting  the  very  essence  of  their 
political  institutions. 

The  bastonade  and  torture  were  applied  to  different  crimes 
and  transgressions,  when  partial  or  entire  rejection  from  all 
caste  did  not  appear  'sufficiently  expiatory,  because  of  special 
aggravating  circumstances. 

The  same  considerations  equally  regulated  the  application  of 
pecuniary  fine. 

Purifications  and  sacrifices  but  applied  to  light  faults,  and 
which  chiefly  partook  of  a  religious  character. 

The  most  dreaded  of  all  these  punishments  was  the  complete 
exclusion  from  all  castes  —  death,  and  the  most  fearful  tortures 
were  preferred  to  it. 

Loss  of  caste  was  the  loss  of  possession,  of  family,  of  friends, 
of  all  civil  and  political  rights,  not  only  in  his  own  person,  but 
also  all  descendants  born  after  his  condemnation. 

Listen  to  Manou's  denunciation  of  them  : 

'*  Those  men  marked  with  the  brand  of  dishonor  should  be 
abandoned  by  their  relatives,  paternal  and  maternal,  and  merit 
neither  compassion  nor  regard." 

"We  may  not  eat  with  them,  nor  sacrifice  with  them,  nor 
study  with  them,  nor  intermarry  with  them,  let  them  wander  in 
misery  on  the  earth,  excluded  from  all  social  ties." 

This  casting  out  was  either  political  or  religious,  and  might 
be  pronounced  by  the  prince  or  his  representatives  administer- 
ing justice  and  appljdng  the  civil  law,  or  by  the  priest,  the  reli- 
gious judge,  delivering  his  sentence  at  the  porch  of  pagoda  or 
temple,  in  presence  of  the  assembled  people. 

And  as  the  guilty  appeared  before  the  civil  tribunal  to  a',  o?r 
his  crimes,  so  was  he  required  to  present  himself  before  the 
religious  tribunal,  with  a  loud  voice  to  make  confession  of  his 


INDIA'S   RELATION  TO  ANTIQUITV.  71 

transgression,  that  the  priest  might  be  enabled  to  proportion 
his  punishment  to  his  offence. 

Let  us  bear  this  passage  in  mind  to  be  recalled  further  on. 

From  this  penal  system,  this  entire  rejection  from  all  caste, 
springs  the  unhappy  and  forever  dishonored  being  called  the 
paria,  who  still  continues,  to  Hindoos  of  caste,  an  object  of 
insurmountable  disgust,  of  reprobation  which  even  the  most 
enlightened  spirits  amongst  them  cannot  overcome. 

And  that  this  dishonor  might  be  indelible,  that  its  victim 
might  be  unable  to  escape  from  it,  by  hiding  his  shame  in 
a  distant  country,  the  guilty  was  branded  with  a  hot  iron, 
either  on  his  brow  or  shoulder,  according  to  the  crime  com- 
mitted. 

Water,  fire,  and  rice  were  to  be  refused  him  by  all  men  of 
aiste,  under  pain  of  degradation. 

Thus  was  formed  within  the  nation  another  nation,  reputed 
impure,  and  placed  by  the  legislator  beneath  the  most  unclean 
animals. 

It  may  require  ages  to  eradicate  this  prejudice  which,  maugre 
suppression  of  ancient  laws,  civil  and  religious,  has  yet,  we 
repeat,  lost  nothing  of  its  force  amongst  the  populations. 

In  the  great  towns  of  India,  under  the  eye  of  the  European 
who  is  glad  individually  to  protect  him,  and  to  repair  the  neg- 
lect or  the  impotence  of  law,  which  has  not  yet  dared  to  soften 
his  situation,  employed  also  as  day-laborer  in  many  industries, 
the  paria  may  feel  himself  less  miserable  at  present,  his  life 
will  even  be  nearly  undisturbed,  provided  he  does  not  leave  his 
guar  tier  to  join  in  the  fetes  and  festivals  of  the  Hindoos.  But 
in  the  country  his  condition  is  still  intolerable  and  pitiable. 

If  he  sees  a  priest  coming  towards  him,  let  him  promptly 
leave  the  road,  and  at  ten  paces  distance  prostrate  himself  in 
the  dust,  in  sign  of  humiliation,  or  risk  being  beaten  to  death 
by  the  Brahmin's  servants. 

If  he  meet  a  man  of  caste  he  must  kneel,  without  raising  his 
head,  without  a  look,  until  he  has  passed. 

If  he  has  neither  food  nor  fire,  let  hiri  seek  or  steal  it.     No 


f  J  THE   BIBLE   IN  IVBIA. 

Hindoo  house  would  open  to  him,  no  hand  present  him  rice, 
or  a  brand  from  the  hearth. 

I  have  seen  these  wretched  creatures,  reduced  by  misery  and 
famine  to  idiotcy,  pale  skeletons,  scarce  alive,  in  the  shade  of 
evening  follow  the  course  of  a  stream,  or  a  desert  path,  in  the 
hope  of  finding  some  dead  animal  whose  possession  he  would 
moreover  be  obliged  to  dispute  with  jackals  and  birds  of  prey. 

Unaccountably  the  paria  is  himself  so  persuaded  that  he  is  a 
degraded  and  inferior  being,  as  never  at  any  epoch  to  have 
sought  escape  from  his  condition  by  industry  and  accumulation 
of  riches.  It  is  probable  that  by  such  means  he  might,  with 
time,  have  triumphed  over  the  stigma  with  which  he  is  branded, 
for  gold  is,  in  India,  a  sovereign  god,  worshipped  with  as  much 
fervor  as  in  Europe.  Nothing  could  have  been  easier  for  the 
paria,  however,  than  to  have  made  the  attempt  by  commerce 
with  his  fellows. 

Many  keep  small  shops  in  the  open,  where  they  retail,  of 
course  to  parias  only,  their  trifling  necessaries  of  life :  wood, 
cocoa,  oil,  rice,  and  curry-spices ;  however  small,  this  traffic 
might  be  cultivated  and  enlarged ;  with  prudence  and  economy 
the  basket  of  rice  might  become  a  sack,  the  jar  of  oil  a  cask, 
the  little  bamboo  stall  a  shop,  &c. 

Here  would  be,  very  surely,  the  beginning  of  a  social  revo- 
lution to  the  advantage  of  these  unfortunates,  which  it  will  be 
long  impossible  to  attempt  by  other  means. 

But  the  paria  will  never  of  himself  find  energy  to  engage  in 
such  a  struggle,  which,  moreover,  would  but  prepare  a  distant 
harvest,  of  which  he  could  only  profit  in  the  persons  of  his 
desendants. 

The  one  thought,  the  invariable  rule,  of  this  poor  imbecile 
is,  promptly  to  exhaust  his  stock  of  goods. 

From  the  moment  he  has  realized  a  sufficient  amount  to  live 
for  some  months  in  idleness,  free  and  content  he  goes  to  sleep 
in  the  sun,  by  the  roadside  or  under  the  cocoa's  shade,  only 
disturbing  himself  from  time  to  time  to  renew  the  betel  which 


INDIA'S  RELATION  TO  ANTlQUITy.  ^3 

he  voluptuously  chews,  or  to  eat  a  little  boiled  rice  from  a 
plantain  leaf. 

When  his  funds  are  nearly  exhausted,  he  will  buy  a  new 
stock  to  retail  as  before,  at  the  corner  of  a  street,  or  on  a 
market  stone,  until  the  hour  for  repose  once  more  strikes  for 
him. 

Treated  as  were  the  Hebrews  on  the  soil  of  Egypt  and  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  parias  have  had  no  Moses  to  resuscitate 
and  lead  them  to  liberty  under  more  favoring  skies,  and  they 
will  never,  by  commerce  and  industry,  become  the  Jews  of 
India. 

Such  was  the  imposing  penal  system  that  enabled  Brahmins 
to  confine  castes  within  the  bounds  traced  for  each,  and  to  im- 
pose upon  all,  from  fear  of  degradation,  respect  for  their  des- 
potic authority. 

We  shall  see  what  this  organization  bequeathed  in  turn  to  dif- 
ferent peoples  of  antiquity,  and  what  disastrous  influences,  for 
Egypt,  Judea,  and  even  for  Greece  and  for  Rome,  had  these  di- 
visions of  caste,  this  repression  by  moral  and  indelible  degra- 
dation of  the  guilty  and  his  descendants,  this  constant  predom- 
inance, in  fact,  over  the  peoples  and  the  institutions  of  Upper 
Asia,  of  the  egotist,  despot,  priest,  of  that  cunning  cultivator  of 
the  religious  idea,  by  mysteries,  prophecies,  miracles,  and  lies. 

"...     Con  simulazione,  menzogne,  e  frodi, 
Legano  i  cor  d'  indissolubili  nodi."* 

Divide^  corrumpe  et  impera  /  Divide,  Demoralize,  and 
Govern ! 

Old  device,  transmitted  by  priests  of  Brahma  to  priests  of 
Memphis  and  of  Eleusis,  to  Levites,  and  to  Aruspices,  and 
which  we  may  perhaps  see  rise  triumphant  over  the  head  of 


•  "  As  with  deceit  and  fraud  and  lies  they  make 
Chains  which  the  shackled  spirit  cannot  break." 
7 


74  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

modern  nations,  to  impel  them  towards  decay  and  decreptitudic^ 
if  we  hasten  not  to  efface  it  from  the  book  of  the  future,  and  in 
the  namr^  of  liberty  erase  the  very  name  of  priest  from  the  vo 
cabulary  of  mankind. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MANES   AND   THE   PRIESTS  —  THEIR   INFLUENCE   ON   EGYPT. 

Egypt,  from  its  geographical  position,  would  necessarily  be 
one  of  the  first  countries  colonized  by  Indian  emigrations,  one 
of  the  first  to  receive  the  influence  of  that  antique  civilization, 
which  has  radiated  even  to  us. 

This  truth  becomes  still  more  striking,  when  we  study  the 
institutions  of  this  country,  so  constructed  after  those  of  Upper 
Asia,  as  to  preclude  other  conclusion,  and  that  the  most  obstin- 
ate prejudice  must  give  way  before  the  imposing  mass  of  proofs 
that  may  be  presented  on  the  matter. 

What  I  would  charge  myself  especially  to  demonstrate  is,  the 
similitude  of  civil  and  political  institutions  of  all  the  people  of 
antiquity,  the  unity  of  idea  in  all ;  with  India  as  initiatrix ;  as  I 
shall,  later,  demonstrate  the  unity  of  all  religious  revelation, 
with  India  as  the  starti-ig  point. 

What  was  the  Government  of  Egypt,  in  looking  back  to  its 
earliest  times  ?    Identically  a  copy  of  that  of  India,  under  the 


TNDIAS   RELATION   TO   ANTIQUITY.  7 J 

inspiration  of  the  same  legislator,  Manou,  or  Manes,  whose  lawa 
had  been  preserved  by  emigrant  tradition,  and  ser\  ed  on  the 
new  soil  to  found  a  society  similar  to  that  of  the  mother  country. 

This  name  of  Manou,  or  Manes,  we  have  already  said,  is 
not  a  substantive,  applying  to  an  individual  man ;  its  Sanscrit 
fignification  is  the  man^  par  excellence^  the  legislator.  It  is  a 
title  aspired  to  by  all  the  leaders  of  men  of  antiquity,  which  was 
decreed  them  in  recompence  of  their  services,  or  which  they 
assumed  to  themselves  as  an  honor. 

Thus,  as  we  l^ave  seen,  the  first  Manou,  him  of  India,  exer- 
cised on  antique,  the  same  influence  as  the  Digest  of  Justinian 
on  modern  legislation. 

Under  the  direction  of  this  legislator,  Egypt  was  naturally 
theocratic  and  sacerdotal ;  like  India  she  had  a  worship  and  a 
hierarchy  imposed  upon  her  with  the  same  severity,  and  with 
tlie  same  design  of  domination. 

In  the  first  rank  appeared  the  priest,  protector  and  guardian 
of  all  civil  and  religious  truth,  controller  of  kings  and  people, 
emanation  of  God,  anointed  of  the  Lord,  irresponsible  in  all 
his  acts,  in  fact  above  all  laws,  as  he  was  above  all  men. 

After  him  comes  the  king,  who  is  allowed  to  reign  on  condi- 
tion that  he  but  governs  by  the  inspiration  and  the  counsels  of 
the  priest.* 

Then  lower,  we  find  again,  as  in  India,  the  trader  obliged  to 
aid  the  fortune  of  the  two  first  castes,  to  pay  for  their  luxury, 
their  caprices,  and  their  debaucheries;  and,  lastly,  the  artisan 
or  worker,  i.  e.,  mechanics,  domestics,  and  slaves. 

The  priests  reserved  to  themselves  the  exclusive  knowledge 
of  sciences.  It  was  by  physical  phenomena  which  they  alone 
understood,  that  they  were  able  to  work  upon  the  spirits  of 
kings  and  of  crowds.  They  equally  kept  to  themselves  their 
sublime  notions  of  God  and  the  Trinity,  the  work  of  creation, 
MM*,  the  iin mortality  of  the  soul,  leaving  the  mob  to  worship 


*  As  well  dramatized  in  ovir  opera,  **  //  ProfiiaJ* 


76  FHE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

monsters,  statues,  images,  and,  as  still  and  always  H  India,  the 
ox,  which  we  know  was  also  a  sacred  anim^aJ  in  Egypt. 

How  must  these  priests  of  Thebes  and  of  Memphis,  in  the 
depths  of  their  immense  and  sombre  temples,  which  were  also 
their  palaces,  have  smiled  with  pity  or  disgust  when  obliged  to 
lear  themselves  from  their  high  studies  or  their  pleasures  to 
promenade  in  pomp,  and  to  the  great  joy  of  a  semi-bovine  peo- 
ple, that  bull  Apis,  which  they  had  created  God  in  the  pride  of 
their  power,  and  of  their  scorn  of  the  servile  nation  they  over- 
rode ! 

And  what  amusement  must  they  have  derived  from  the  death 
of  this  bull,  which  they  were  obliged  to  replace,  to  maintain  the 
dogma  of  his  immortality  ! 

How  strictly  did  they  for  ages  preserve  the  deposit  of  theii 
knowledge,  source  of  all  their  prestige  !  And  by  what  terrible 
oaths  must  they  have  bound  to  themselves,  those  whom  they 
consented  to  initiate  ! 

As  in  Brahminical  society,  the  Egyptian  priests  decreed  the 
impossibility  of  rising  above  that  class  in  which  each  was  bom , 
thus  stamping  their  institutions  with  the  same  seal  of  inertia  and 
immobility. 

The  penal  system  was  the  same,  and  repression  exercised  by 
degradation,  that  is,  by  partial  and  complete  caste-exclusion. 

From  which  equally  arose  an  outcast  race  of  parias,  of  whom 
we  shall  speak  in  a  special  chapter ;  for  our  opinion,  enforced 
by  the  logic  of  facts,  is,  that  from  this  race  of  parias  and  of  out- 
casts sprang  the  Hebrews,  regenerated  by  Manes,  Moses,  or 
Moise. 

The  Egjnptian  priests,  however,  did  not  encounter  a  race  of 
kings  so  pliant  and  so  malleable  as  those  of  the  Tchatrias,  who 
never  attempted  to  resist  the  authority  of  the  Brahmins. 

Whether  that  the  vicars  of  Osiris  at  last  became  too  exigeant. 
that  the  Pharaohs  dreamt  of  an  independence  that  flattered 
their  ambition,  that  the  hand  of  time  desired  to  overthrow  these 
senile  institutions  bequeathed  by  Brahminism,  for  the  purpose 
of  building  up  newer ;  after  some  ages  of  this  sleep,  frj)m  whick 


INDIA  S    RELATION   TO   ANTIQUITY.  77 

India  has  not  yet  awakened,  Egypt  found  herself  disturbed  by 
the  strife  of  priests  and  kings,  who,  caUing  together  their  parti- 
sans, disputed,  at  the  point  of  sword  and  lance,  a  power  which 
was  simply  the  appanage  of  the  strongest,  and  for  long  years 
the  people  saw  themselves  governed  alternately  by  dynasties  of 
warriors,  or  of  priests,  as  decided  on  the  field  of  battle. 

Hence,  doubtless,  the  disappearance  of  ancient  Egyptian 
civiHzation  from  the  world's  stage.  As  in  India,  a  theocratic 
government  could  only  produce  slaves,  and  so  deeply  rooted 
had  become  all  the  divisions  of  caste,  that  after  the  final  triumph 
of  kings  they  knew  not  ho^  to  break  with  the  narrow  traditions 
of  the  past,  and  regenerate  their  peoples,  to  lean  upon  them. 
They  became,  like  SesoGtris,  wandering  conquerors,  carrying 
fire  and  sword  into  the  territories  of  their  neighbors,  but  inca- 
pable  of  founding  anything  ;  for  the  despotic  power  of  an  indi- 
vidual will  always  be  powerless  for  the  march  of  progress  when 
each  man  of  the  nation  is  reduced  to  the  state  of  a  mere  unit, 
instead  of  constituting  an  individuality. 

You  may  build  up  blocks  of  stone,  the  astonishment  of 
future  ages,  excavate  lakes,  turn  the  course  of  immense  waters, 
construct  gigantic  palaces,  train  behind  your  triumphal  car  a 
hundred  thousand  slaves,  the  conquests  of  war ;  servile  history 
will  weave  you  crowns;  the  Brahmins,  the  Levites,  and  the 
priests,  whom  you  will  have  gorged  with  honors  and  witb 
riches,  will  chant  your  praises,  present  you  to  a  prostrate  peo- 
ple as  an  envoy  of  God,  who  accomplishes  his  mission;  but 
for  the  thinker  and  the  philosopher,  for  the  history  of  humanity, 
and  not  that  of  dictators,  you  will  have  been  but  a  mere  stone  of 
obstruction  to  that  work  of  progress,  by  concord  and  by  liberty, 
which  is  the  end  designed  by  God,  and  which  each  nation 
should  strive  to  attain.  You  will  have  been  but  a  brutal  fact, 
come  to  show  more  clearly  the  weakness  of  human  nature,  and 
how  the  nations  fall  into  decay. 

Thus  did  ancient  Egypt,  after  the  fall  of  its  fiheocratic  gov- 
enunent,  sink,  step  by  step,  under  the  sway  of  priests  and 


^  THE    BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

kings,  into  ruin  and  oblivion ;  unprepared  with  a  substitute,  it 
had  but  to  die. 

So  in  collating  these  two  antique  countries,  India  and 
Egypt,  do  we  see  the  same  government,  the  same  divisions 
of  caste,  the  same  institutions,  produce  the  s.jLme  results, 
and  exclude  these  people  from  all  part  in  the  history  of  the 
future. 

With  such  congruence  before  us,  no  one,  I  imagine,  will 
appear  to  contest  the  purely  Hindoo  origin  of  Egypt  unless  to 
suggest  that  chance  constructed  in  this  country  a  civilization 
modelled  on  that  of  the  extreme  East,  or,  which  would  be  still 
more  absurd,  that  it  was  Egypt  that  colonized  India,  and  Manou 
who  copied  Manes. 

I  can  understand  such  an  opinion  being  encouraged  by  peo- 
ple interested  in  denial,  or  ignorant  of  India.  To  them  I  shall 
merely  reply :  you  have  on  your  side  but  an  affirmation  and 
the  stale  objections  which  I  have  before  heard, —  "And  who 
tells  you  that  it  was  not  India  that  copied  Egpyt?"  and  you 
require  that  this  affirmation  shall  be  refuted  by  proofs  leaving 
no  room  for  even  a  shadow  of  doubt. 

To  be  quite  logical,  then,  deprive  India  of  the  Sanscrit,  that 
language  which  formed  all  others ;  but  show  me  in  India  a  leaf 
of  papyrus,  a  columnar  inscription,  a  temple  bas-relief  tending 
to  prove  Egyptian  birth. 

Deprive  India  of  all  her  remains  of  literature,  legislation, 
aijid  philosophy,  w^hich  still  there  exist,  preserved  in  the  primi- 
tive language,  and  defying  ages  and  profane  hands — but  show 
me  what  were  the  sources  from  which  they  were  copied  in 
Egypt. 

Ignore,  if  you  will,  that  great  current  of  emigration  by  the 
Himalaya,  Persia,  Asia-Minor,  and  Arabia,  of  which  science 
has  recovered  the  traces.  But  show  me  colonizing  Egypt, 
sending  out  her  sons  over  the  globe.  What  language,  what 
mstititions,  can  we  discover  to-day,  that  she  has  bequeathed 
to  the  world  ? 

Do  we  not  see  that  the  Egypt  of  Manes,  sacerdotal  Egypt, 


INDIA'S  RELATION  TO  ANTIQUriY.  ^ 

had  institutions  identical  with  those  of  India  only  in  the  firsf 
ages ;  that,  forgetting,  gradually,  the  tradition  she  had  received, 
her  kings  shook  off  the  yoke  of  priests,  and  that,  from  tiie  time 
of  Psameticus,  she  reversed  the  pure  theocratic  idea,  to  substi- 
tute for  it  the  idea-Monarchical,  which  was  thenceforth  to 
govern  the  new  civilizations?  Do  we  not  know  that  the 
divisions  of  caste  were  abolished  under  the  Ptolemies  ? 

Therein  is  the  whole  merit  of  Egypt,  but  it  would  be  a  mis- 
take to  assign  to  her  others.  She,  first  of  antiquity,  found 
energy  to  overthrow  that  government  of  the  priest  which  had 
its  birth  in  the  extreme  East,  without,  however,  being  able  to 
escape  the  fall  which  its  deleterious  and  corrupt  influence  had 
prepared  for  her. 

Moreover,  if  we  could  allow  ourselves  to  plunge  into  details ; 
if  we  did  not  consider  that  those  great  similitudes  of  principles, 
which  are  the  base  of  the  existence  of  nations,  sufficiently  sup- 
port the  thesis  we  maintain,  we  could  prove,  with  the  greatest 
facility,  that  the  unity  of  God,  admitted  by  the  priests  of  Mem- 
phis, that  Knef,  Fta,  and  Fr6,  who  are  the  three  demiurgic 
gods,  the  three  creators  J>ar  excellence,  the  three  persons  of  the 
Trinity  in  Egyptian  theology,  are  symbolic  Hindoo  importations ; 
that  the  belief  in  animals,  the  ibis  and  the  bull,  for  instance, 
are  superstitions  brought  from  India  by  a  tradition  of  which  it 
is  it  easy  to  follow  the  march ;  that  matter,  as  the  primitive 
atom,  called  Bouto  by  the  initiated,  and  represented  under  the 
fecund  form  of  an  egg,  is  but  a  souvenir  of  the  Vedas  and  of 
Manou,  who  compares  the  germ  of  all  things  to  "  an  egg,  bril- 
liant as  gold." 

Let  it  suffice  to  have  indicated  these  great  points  of  contact, 
which,  to  us,  explain  ancient  Egypt,  by  India  and  Brahminical 
influence,  and  logically  raise,  as  far  as  possible,  a  corner 
of  the  veil  that  obscures  and  envelopes  the  cradle  of  all 
peoples. 


THE   BIBLE   IN  UfVUL 


CHAPTER  VII. 


MINOS   AND    GREECE. 


The  mos":  irrefutable  proof  of  the  influence  of  India  on 
Greece,  is  In  the  fact,  on  which  we  have  already  dwelt  at 
length,  that  from  the  Sanscrit  was  formed  the  language  of  that 
country. 

In  fact  all  the  names  of  fabulous  and  heroic  epochs  of  gods 
and  demi-gods,  all  the  names  of  people  that  Greece  has 
transmitted  to  us,  are  nearly  pure  Sanscrit.  We  may  say,  too, 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  words  which  compose  this  language 
and  its  syntax,  have  the  same  origin ;  and,  if  discussion  should 
be  raised  on  this  ground,  it  would  be  easy  for  us  to  show  that 
this  assertion  is  simply  a.  mathematical  truth,  which,  as  such, 
may  boldly  affirm  and  prove  itself.  We  shall,  therefore, 
devote  but  a  few  lines  to  the  Cretan  legislator,  whose  written 
work,  indeed,  has  not  reached  us. 

Mmos  is  incontestibly  of  Asiatic  origin;  Greek  history 
makes  him  come  from  the  East  into  Crete,  where  the  people, 
struck  with  his  wisdom,  besought  his  legislation.  He  then 
travelled  into  Egypt,  of  which  he  studied  the  institutions; 
Asia,  Persia,  and  the  banks  of  the  Indus,  saw  him  in  turn  in- 
terrogate their  traditions  and  antique  legislations;  then  he 
returns  to  give  to  the  Cretans  his  book  of  the  law,  wliich  wa% 
soon  after,  adopted  by  all  Greece. 


India's  relation  to  antiqutiy.  8i 

It  was  probably  after,  and  as  a  consequence  of,  these 
travels,  that  he  received  the  name  of  Minos,  of  which,  as  we 
have  already  said,  the  Sanscrit  root  signifies  legislator,  and 
we  conceive,  that  in  consideration  of  his  travels  in  Egypt  and 
in  Asia,  and  of  hi?  Oriental  origin,  we  are  safe  in  our  asso- 
ciation of  him  with  Manou,  and  with  Manes,  and  in  expressing 
the  opinion  attested  by  facts,  since  he  sought  instruction  at 
primitive  sources ;  that  he  derived  his  inspiration  from  the 
works  of  Hindoo  and  Egyptian  legislators  ;  and  that  he  held 
it  imperative  to  assume  the  honorary  title  which  the  gratitude 
of  peoples  had  decreed  to  his  two  precursors. 

We  cannot  too  often  repeat  that  these  words,  Manou, 
Manes,  Minos,  and  Moses,  are  not  proper  names,  but  signi- 
ncant  titles  borne  by  antique  legislators,  just  as  the  kings 
of  India  bore  the  title  of  Tchatrias,  of  Persia  that  of  Xerxes, 
and  those  of  Egypt  that  of  Pharaoh. 

Contenting  ourselves,  then,  with  the  proofs  already  given 
in  the  first  chapter  of  this  work,  we  shall  not  inquire  whether 
the  Greek  feasts,  pythonesses  and  mysteries  of  Eleusis,  so 
skilfully  handled  by  the  priests,  are  identical,  as  is  our  firm 
belief,  with  the  feasts,  devadassis,  and  mysteries  of  Brahmin- 
ism.  Moreover,  Greece,  that  was  so  largely  influenced  by 
Hindoo  literature,  language,  and  philosophy,  quickly  ignoring 
its  fabulous  origin,  soon  learned  to  laugh  at  its  Olympus — the 
debauched  gods  of  a  superstitious  tradition  —  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  advance  with  a  firm  step  in  the  way  opened  to  it  by 
the  Sastras,  to  the  conquest  of  untrammelled  thought. 

Had  not  Rome  appeared,  with  her  brutal  invasion,  to  dry 
up  the  energy  and  the  life  of  this  admirable  country,  long  since 
had  all  those  problems  of  progress  and  liberty  which  have  not 
yet  ceased  to  agitate  Europe  with  revolutions,  been  solved  by 
the  sons  of  Hellas,  by  those  descendants  of  free  and  primitive 
Hindoo  society. 

Although  the  family  of  the  Eumolpides,  priests  of  Ceres, 
who  were  apparently  a  caste  of  Levites,  hat  I  also  enjoyed 
great  influence  in  Greece  at  an   early  period,  it  does  not  ap- 


82  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

pear  that  they  ever  succeeded  in  confiscating  to  their  own  profit, 
the  government  of  the  nation ;  and  to  that  fact,  chiefly,  must  be 
attributed  the  considerable  development  of  human  thought  on 
this  narrow  soil,  which  had  succeeded  in  establishing,  at  home, 
the  reign  of  democracy  and  of  liberty,  at  an  epoch  when  all 
political  and  religious  despotisms  joined  hands  to  enslave  the 
world. 

We  know,  in  fact,  that  from  the  fall  of  Hippias,  until  the 
time  of  the  Macedonian  and  Roman  conquests,  Athens  affords 
modern  nations  the  example  of  a  popular  government,  in 
which  liberty  had  brought  to  perfection  all  the  glories  of  litera- 
ture, of  philosophy,  and  of  arts. 

The  citizen,  by  universal  suffrage,  elected  his  archons,  his 
magistrates,  his  functionaries ;  the  right  of  peace  and  of  war, 
the  legislative  power,  the  discussion  of  all  the  great  interests  of 
the  republic  belonged  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  people,  to 
which  every  free  man  brought  the  aid  of  his  word  and  his  vote, 
under  penalty  of  forfeiture  of  his  rights. 

It  was  the  first  appearance  in  the  world  of  the  national  idea, 
substituted  for  that  servile  obedience  to  the  caprices  of  a 
master,  which  had  until  then  governed  societies. 

India  groans  and  dies  under  the  priest,  Egypt,  inheritor  of 
this  tradition,  ends  by  overthrow  of  theocracy,  to  cast  itself 
into  the  arms  of  kings,  and  Greece,  remembering  the  East, 
and  the  sacerdotal  dominations  which  she  had  rejected,  to 
expand  herself  on  a  freer  soil,  makes  another  stride  of  progress, 
and,  replacing  the  slave  by  the  citizen,  institutes  the  govern- 
ment of  the  nation  by  the  nation. 

Hence  was  born  the  modern  spirit. 

Thus  these  first  Hindoo  emigrations  by  the  South,  after  long 
subjection  to  revelation  and  the  priest,  had,  step  by  step, 
effected  their  overthrow,  and  a  commencement  of  progress  by 
independence  and  by  reason. 

Why  was  it  that  the  second  stream  of  emigration  by  the 
Himalayas  and  the  plains  of  the  North,  which  brought  into 
Europe  the  Scandinavian,  Germanic  and  Slave  tribes  (no  doubt 


INDIA'S   RELATION  TO  ANTIQUITY.  S$ 

retarded  by  the  aridity  of  soil  and  the  rigors  of  a  new  climate), 
could  not  so  rapidly  attain  civilization  as  the  nations  of  the- 
South,  and  swooped  upon  tliem,  one  fine  morning,  tc  destroy 
them? 

Wild  children  of  the  forests,  worshippers  of  Odin  and  of 
Skanda,  these  people  had  retained  the  legendary  souvenir  of 
their  origin  j  their  songs  and  their  poems,  full  of  Oriental 
traditions,  spoke  to  them  of  restoration  to  their  cradle  lands 
and  cloudless  skies,  and,  in  their  search  of  Asgard,  the  city  of 
the  sun,  they  encountered  Rome,  —  and  the  ancient  world 
disappeared. 

And  the  new  world  slept  for  more  than  fifteen  centuries 
under  a  domination  not  less  sacerdotal,  not  less  tyrannic,  than 
that  of  antiquity,  before  recovering  the  grand  souvenirs,  th* 
grand  social  and  political  truths  bequeathed  it  by  Greece. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 


ZOROASTER  AND  PERSIA, 


The  name  of  the  reformer,  who  came  to  play  in  Persia  the 
part  of  Celestial  Messenger,  is,  in  Persian,  Zerdust ;  in  Zend, 
Zertochtro;  in  Pehlvi,  Zaradot.  These  different  expressions 
ue  but  variations  of  the  primitive  name,  which  is,  in  Sanscrit, 
Zaiyastara  (who  restores  the  worship  of  the  sun),  from  wHcb 


94  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

comes  this  name  of  Zoroaster,  which  is  itself  but  a  title  as* 

signed  to  a  political  and  religious  legislator. 

As  his  Sanscrit  origin  sufficiently  indicates,  according  even 
to  the  testimony  of  history,  Zoroaster  was  born  in  Upper  Asia, 
that  is,  in  India.  After  having  passed  the  greater  part  of  his 
life  in  study  of  the  reHgion  and  the  laws  of  that  country  with 
the  Brahmins,  who  had  initiated  him,  being  doubtless  of  the 
same  caste  as  themselves,  his  travels  led  him  into  Persia, 
where,  encountering  the  most  superstitious  practices,  he  under- 
took to  reform  them,  and  to  endow  that  country  with  a  religion 
more  comformable  to  morals  and  to  reason. 

Zoroaster  was,  without  doubt,  a  fugitive  from  the  pagodas 
and  temples  of  India,  who,  wishing  the  people  to  profit  by  the 
truths  and  sublime  knowledge  which  the  priests  reserved  ex- 
clusively to  themselves,  but  fearing  their  power  if  he  preached 
in  India,  sought  a  country  less  immediately  under  their  con- 
trol. 

Arrived  at  the  court  of  the  kings  Gouchtasp  and  Isfendiar, 
he  opened  their  eyes  to  means  of  withdrawing  themselves  from 
the  influence  of  Brahmins,  from  whom  they  held  their  inves- 
titure ;  and,  thanks  to  this  clever  temptation,  having  gained 
them  to  his  cause,  he  was  permitted  to  preach  the  new  doc- 
trine, and  to  submit  to  his  laws  the  entire  of  Iran,  even  to  the 
Sind  (Indus) ;  that  is,  to  the  very  frontier  sanctuary  of  Brahmin- 
ical  power. 

So,  Luther,  afterwards,  by  showing  the  German  princes  the 
possibility  of  shaking  off  the  despotic  and  capricious  yoke  of 
the  popes,  enrolled  them  in  the  camp  of  reform. 

Only,  the  great  monk  of  Wittemberg,  instead  of  striking  the 
imagination  of  the  peoples,  like  his  predecessors,  by  prodigies 
and  wonders,  instead  of  presenting  himself  as  a  celestial  envoy, 
trusted  the  success  of  his  mission  to  appeals  in  the  name  of 
reason.  Doubtless,  had  he  lived  some  years  earlier,  he  would 
have  been  obliged  to  surround  himself  with  a  halo  of  mysterj', 
to  impress  the  crowd  —  only  raising  the  veil  to  the  initialed  few. 

So  certain  is  tlie  Hindoo  origin  of  Zoroaster,  that  history 


INDIA'S   RELATION  TO  ANTIQUITY.  9$ 

itself  informs  us  that  the  Brahmins,  furious  at  the  desertion  of 
this  false  brother,  who  had  aimed  the  first  blow  at  their  power, 
summoned  him  to  appear  before  them  to  explain  his  schism ; 
and  that,  failing  to  entice  him  into  the  trap,  they  marched  at 
the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  from  Eastern  to  the  re-conquest 
of  Western  India  (Iran),  which  had  withdrawn  itself  from  their 
dominion.  Defeated  by  Zoroaster,  they  were  constrained  to  re- 
tire, and  leave  him  to  pursue  the  new  work  in  peace. 

In  his  teaching,  Zoroaster  innovated  little  upon  the  Brahmin- 
ical  system.  He  divided  the  people  into  castes,  at  the  head  of 
which,  and  alcove  kings,  he  placed  the  Magi,  or  priests,  regu- 
lated public  and  private  life,  and,  finally,  adopted  a  penal  system 
similar  to  that  which  we  have  seen  establish  itself  in  India  and 
in  Egypt.  His  religious  reform  was  only  such  in  this  sense, 
that  rejecting  the  many  superstitions  into  which  Hindoo  priests 
had  allowed  the  multitude  to  sink,  he  instructed  all  in  the  re- 
ligious principles  of  the  Vedas,  that  is,  the  unity  Q^iftod  in  the 
Trinity.  ^''"■^ 

He  gave  to  the  Divine  essence,  J>ar  excellence^  to  the  crea- 
tive power,  the  name  of  Zervane-Akerene. 

To  the  presiding  principle  of  preservation,  he  gave  the  name 
of  Ormuz.  To  that  of  decomposition  and  reconstruction,  the 
name  of  Ahriman. 

It  is  exactly  the  Hindoo  trimourti  (trinity),  with  their  sym* 
bolic  attributes  and  r61e  in  creation. 

Zoroaster  did  not  extirpate  all  the  superstitions,  which  he, 
perhaps,  intended  to  overthrow ;  freethinker  at  first,  he  soon 
found  himself  in  advance  of  his  age,  and  that  the  populations 
were  not  ripe  for  such  institutions  as  he  lad  conceived.  Each 
reformer,  also,  has  always,  unhappily,  a  train  of  disciples  be- 
hind him,  whose  personal  ambitions  intervene  to  retard  advance, 
and  modify  primitive  principles. 

The  Magi  soon  became  an  initiated  class  —  a  monopolizing 

class,  like  all  sacerdotal  castes.     Class-divisions  assisted  them 

plaVibibly  to  bend  the  people  to  their  authority,  and,  as  in  India, 

as  in  F^Tpt,  mysteries,  sacrifices,  processions  were  needed  for 

8 


S6  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

the  people  who  wo  aid  no  more  than  those  others,  have  compr* 
hended  a  worship  free  from  all  pomp  and  charlatanism.  Hence 
those  monstrous  hecatombs,  those  gigantic  festivals  of  the  Sun 
or  of  fire,  of  which  antiquity  so  long  retained  the  recollection. 

The  disciples  of  Zoroaster,  in  their  profusion  of  legends  of 
the  Master,  relate  that  one  day,  as  he  prayed  in  a  high  moun- 
tain in  the  midst  of  thunders  and  lightnings  that  divided  the 
heavens  in  all  parts,  he  was  taken  up  into  heaven,  and  saw  Or- 
muz,  face  to  face  in  all  the  6clat  of  his  grandeur  and  his  majesty, 
and  received  from  him  the  divine  instructions  which  he  was, 
later,  to  reveal  to  man. 

When  Zoroaster  returned  to  earth  he  brought  with  him  the 
book  of  the  law,  called  Nosks,  which  he  had  written  under  the 
direction  of  the  Supreme  Being. 

This  book  is  nothing  else  than  a  recollection  of  the  Vedas 
and  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindoos,  which,  in  his  youth, 
Zoroastei.  -     i  studied  with  the  Brahmins. 

Thus  the  influence  of  India  on  Persia  and  in  all  the  countries 
of  Sind,  has  all  the  authentication  of  historic  truth.  Here  tra- 
dition, less  obscure  than  in  Egypt,  to  all  the  proofs  drawn  from 
similarity  of  religious  and  political  institutions,  adds  the  testi- 
mony of  a  history  of  those  far  back  times  in  which  we  may  fol- 
low the  traces  of  Zoroaster  from  India  of  the  East,  to  India  o/ 
the  West,  from  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  to  the  banks  of  the 
Indus. 

Do  we  now  understand  how  all  these  Hindoo  traditions, 
escaping  from  the  great  focus  by  Arabia  and  l^^^ypt,  Persia  and 
Asia-Minor,  were  able,  with  modifications,  t<?  reach  Judea, 
Greece,  and  Rome  ? 

In  concluding  this  chapter,  let  us  remark  that  Zoroaster,  like 
his  predecessors,  Manou  and  Manes,  assigned  himself  midst 
the  people  he  came  to  rule  or  regenerate,  a  celestial  origin  and 
a  celestial  mission. 


INDIAN  RELATION  TO  ANTlQUnY.  ly 


CHAPTER  IX. 


ROME  AND   ITS   CASTES. 


The  Asiatic  origin  of  Rome  and  her  institutions  is  a  tratli 
•carce  requiring  demonstration. 

Italus,  says  the  legend,  fl)ang  from  Asia-Minor  with  the  van- 
quished Trojans,  after  the  fall  of  Troy,  came  to  establish  him- 
self upon  the  soil  of  Italy,  and  gave  it  his  name.  Some  Greek 
tribes,  from  the  same  cradle,  afterwards  aided  the  colonization. 

It  might  be  said  that  we  here  offer  proofs  borrowed  precisely 
from  those  fabulous  and  heroic  epochs  which  we  profess  to  ex- 
plode ;  the  answer  is  easy.  Maintaining  that  these  fabulous 
and  heroic  times  are  but  Hindoo  and  Asiatic  traditions,  admit- 
ting them  as  the  souvenir  of  a  common  origin,  it  becomes,  we 
conceive,  a  bonne  fortune  for  our  theory,  to  find,  at  every  cor- 
ner of  the  colonized  earth,  the  legend  that  makes  the  colonist 
come  from  the  East.  And  if  of  this  legend  are  begotten  cus- 
toms and  institutions,  still  better  establishing  that  affinity  and 
that  origin,  have  we  not  a  right  to  maintain  that  we  have  estab- 
lished the  matter  as  completely  as  possible  ? 

We  have  seen  that  Rome  was  indebted  to  India  for  her  grand 
principles  of  legislation.  If  the  Latin,  as  well  as  the  Greek, 
is  also,  as  modern  science  admits,  derived  from  the  Sanscrit ;  if, 
as  is  incontestible,  the  Roman  Olympus  is  but  an  emanation  of 
the  Greek  Olympus,  which  itself  had  its  birth  "h  the  mysteries 


S8  TEIB    BIBLE   IN   DIDCA. 

of  India,  of  Persia,  and  of  Egypt,  what  more  shall  we  say  t« 

fender  the  truth  more  true  ? 

Had  not  Rome  her  castes,  like  the  more  ancient  nations,  he! 
predecessors  ?  And  if  those  divisions  were  less  important,  and 
more  easily  subverted,  ought  we  not  to  attribute  that  result  to 
the  infiltration  of  younger  blood  on  a  richer  soil,  producing  the 
necessaries  of  life,  doubtless,  with  less  facility ;  but,  for  that 
reason,  requiring  more  labor  and  more  energy  ? 

Does  not  this  constitution  of  the  Roman  people,  as  priests, 
senators,  patricians,  and  plebeians,  represent  a  feebler  image 
of  Hindoo  society?  Was  not  the  impossibility  of  rising  from 
an  inferior  to  a  superior  class,  equally  decreed  ?  Do  we  not 
perceive,  in  fact,  at  the  very  beginning  of  this  new  civilization, 
the  same  programme  of  domination  by  the  systematic  subjuga- 
tion and  degradation  of  the  masses  ? 

And  if  we  ask  whence  Rome  could  have  acquired  the  idea 
of  these  institutions,  we  find  that  she  sent  her  sages  and  her 
legislators  into  Greece,  Egypt,  and,  no  doubt,  even  to  Asia,  to 
explore  the  great  focus  of  the  enlightenment  which  from  the 
East  had  radiated  over  the  entire  ancient  world. 

At  this  time  the  senile  traditions  of  Brahminism  were  every- 
where in  decay.  Boudha,  it  is  true,  had  been  expelled  from 
Hindostan,  but  he  had  given  the  followers  of  Brahma  a  blow, 
from  which  they  were  not  to  recover.  Zoroaster  was  revolu- 
tionizing Western  India  and  Persia.  To  the  Sacerdotal  era  in 
Egypt  had  succeeded  the  Monarchic  period,  and  Greece,  re- 
pudiating her  cloudy  past,  was  preparing  her  Republican  in- 
stitutions. Obviously,  the  attempt  made  at  Rome  to  re- 
generate this  state  of  things,  by  the  power  of  priests  and  of 
certain  privileged  classes,  could  but  result  in  a  succession  of 
struggles  and  civil  wars,  to  end,  soon  or  late,  in  a  social  and 
political  equality,  which  the  people  had  already  began  to  dream 
of  and  to  desire. 

In  vain  did  the  higher  classes,  to  preserve  their  power,  daz- 
zle the  eyes  and  employ  the  energy  of  the  populations  with 
wars  and    ':onquests;   they  were   obliged   to  give  way,  and 


INDIA'S   RELATION   TO   ANTIQUnY.  89 

gradually  bow  to  the  freshening  breeze  that  threatened  to  des- 
troy them. 

But,  if  social  divisions  were  abolished,  or  their  influence  par 
alysed,  not  less  did  the  ineffaceable  signs  cf  primitive  Oriental 
tradition  remain  in  customs  and  laws  which  retain  even  amongst 
modem  nations  the  stamp  of  their  origin. 

We  shall  not  protract  these  reflections.  Moreover,  does  not 
Latin  loudly  proclaim  its  Sanscrit  parentage  ?  And  have  we 
not  already,  in  our  preceding  chap'ers  on  legislations,  demon- 
strated the  direct  and  preponderating  influence  of  India  oe  this 
country  ? 


CHAPTER  X. 


COMPARISON  OF  PRIVATION  OF  CASTE  IN  INDIA,  WITH  THE  CAPI- 
TIS MINUTIO  (diminution  OR  PRIVATION  OF  CIVIL  RIGHTS)  IN 
THE  LAWS  OF  JUSTINIAN,  AND  THE  CIVIL  DEATH  (mORT  CIVILE) 
OF  THE  CODE  NAPOLEON. 

We  have  seen  the  Hindoo  priests,  after  the  fall  (which  was 
flieir  work)  of  Vedic  civilization,  institute  for  the  security  of 
their  power,  and  with  the  design  of  imbuing  their  victims  with 
salutary  fear,  this  terrible  penalty  of  rejection,  partial  or  com- 
plete, from  all  caste,  which  placed  the  unhappy  delinquent  be- 
low the  bm  te,  since  not  the  faintest  socia'  relation  could  bd 
8» 


90  THE    BIBLE    IN    INDIA. 

held  with  him  without  incurring  degradation,  and  sinking  to  til 
Vsvel. 

Even  the  ties  of  family  were  broken ;  the  children  of  the 
outcast  became  orphans,  they  were  relegated  to  a  tutor  ;  liis 
wife  became  a  widow,  and  might  re-marry  if  of  a  caste  in  which 
second  marriage  was  not  prohibited;  his  succession  failed; 
and,  finally,  if  he  happened  to  be  killed,  the  civil  law  touched 
not  his  murderer,  who  had  simply  to  perform  the  religious  cere- 
monies of  purification,  because  he  had  been  defiled  by  contact 
of  a  paria. 

From  the  soil  of  India,  its  birth-place,  this  institution  of 
theocratic  despotism  quickly  passed  to  the  other  countries  that 
adopted  it,  in  their  turn,  as  an  admirable  instrument  of  domina- 
tion ;  and  thus  did  the  iftter diction  of  water  and  of  fire  come  to 
be  considered  throughout  antiquity  a  just  and  salutary  penalty. 

A  modification,  it  must  be  stated,  was,  however,  introduced 
into  the  exercise  of  this  severe  repression. 

Thus,  while  in  India,  the  capricious  and  arbitrary  power  of 
the  priests,  or  of  the  king,  pronounced  the  sentence  of  expul- 
sion from  caste,  for  faults  as  well  as  for  crimes ;  for  religious  a? 
well  as  for  social  offences ;  the  difterent  nations  of  antiquity 
tainted  by  Hindoo  influence,  confined  the  application  of  this 
penalty,  in  its  extreme  severity,  to  political  and  religious  crimes, 
treasons,  and  conspiracies  against  all  authority. 

Crimes  and  offences  against  the  person  were  subject  to  other 
laws. 

This  exception,  however,  did  not  include  Egypt,  which  re- 
tained this  practice  in  all  its  rigorous  and  arbitrary  application, 
and  it  is  easy  to  see  the  reason  why. 

After  India,  it  is  Egypt  that  exhibits  to  us  the  most  painful 
example  of  stolid  demoralization  and  abasement  of  the  people, 
who,  deprived  of  all  social  and  political  role,  deprived  in  some 
measure  of  the  faculty  of  thinking,  because  deprived  of  the 
privilege  of  knowing,  of  acting,  and  of  speaking ;  der.jed  all  ini- 
tiative, their  hours  defined  for  refection,  repose,  and  prayer, 
were  long  but  docile  instruments  —  producing  machines  ta 


India's  relation  to  antiqlttt.  91 

satisfy  all  the  caprices  of  the  small  number  of  the  elect,  who 
elected  themselves  by  aid  of  the  religious  idea,  of  terror  and  of 
lies. 

Zoroaster,  while  retaining  this  penalty,  ordained  that  it  should 
only  be  applied  to  great  offenders  in  the  eyes  of  God  and  of 
men,  and  made  it  almost  exceptional.  In  Greece  (under  the 
name  of  Ostracism,  it  but  applied  to  men  whose  political  in 
fluence  was  feared),  interdiction  of  fire  and  water  was  scarce 
ever  pronounced,  except  as  temporary^  and  it  does  not  appear 
that  any  special  laws  regulated  its  application. 

Rome,  after  the  example  of  India  and  of  Egypt,  ordained 
this  mode  of  repression  in  its  written  law,  under  the  name  of 
Capitis  Miniitio ;  and,  as  the  Oriental  legislator  Manou  had 
admitted  the  partial  or  complete  rejection  of  caste,  so  Roman 
legislation  ordained  degrees  of  this  penalty:  these  were  the 
great,  the  middle  and  the  lesser  Minutio  Capitis. 

By  the  first  the  citizen  was  deprived  of  all  social  and  political 
rights ;  of  all  rights  of  family ;  and  placed  in  the  same  situation 
as  the  Egyptian  and  Hindoo — rejected  from  all  caste. 

Water  and  fire  were  prohibited  in  the  same  form,  and  as  rig« 
orously  as  Manou  interdicted  rice,  water  and  fire. 

He  was  not  even  allowed  the  resource  of  serving  as  a  slave ; 
and  to  kill  him  was  not  a  crime. 

By  the  second,  all  the  rights  of  father  and  of  master  were 
suppressed ;  he  had  no  longer  any  control  over  his  children, 
who  were  emancipated  by  the  fact,  and  his  succession  divided 
amongst  his  heirs. 

At  to  the  third,  or  lesser  minutio  capitis^  it  but  excluded  the 
condemned  from  the  magistracy,  and  from  the  service  of  the 
republic,  leaving  intact  his  paternal  authority  and  the  fiee  dis 
position  of  his  property. 

Thus  adopted  into  the  written  laws  of  Rome,  this  provision 
became,  as  we  see,  a  penalty  of  common  law. 

These  barbarous  modes  of  repression  by  personal  degrada* 
tion,  by  ruthless  robbery  of  all  that  which  constitutes  the  very 
essence  of  the  life  we  hold  from  God,  were  of  Eastern  ^owthj 


9'  THE   BIBLE    IN  INDIA« 

and  I  am  not  in  the  least  astonished  to  see  the  priests  of  Brah- 
ma and  of  Osiris  inventing  such  ignominies.  That  Rome  was 
influenced  by  and  followed  the  rule  of  the  ancient  world,  I  do 
not  think  a  sufficient  reason  for  denouncing  her,  but  1  feel  a 
thrill  of  indignation  when  I  see  that  our  modem  legislators  had 
inscribed  in  our  codes  this  rejection  of  caste,  this  capitis  tnim^ 
tiOy  had  prescribed,  in  fact,  this  civil  death. 

Civil  death !  Will  it  be  believed  that  scarce  fifteen  years 
ago,  the  victim  of  this  penalty,  like  the  paria  of  India,  had  no 
longer  on  earth  either  wife,  or  children,  or  relations  to  articu- 
late his  name,  to  retain  some  little  affection  for  one  so  unblest, 
and  permit  him,  in  default  of  hope,  in  the  depths  of  his  cell,  to 
live  a  little  upon  memories  ?  Will  it  be  believed  that  his  wife 
was  permitted  to  re-marry,  and  his  children  to  divide  amongst 
them  his  spoils  ? 

And  '89  had  passed  over  without  daring  to  touch  this  hide- 
ous bequest  of  antiquity,  preserved  by  that  sacerdotal  and  fa- 
natic middle-age,  that  sought  to  re-erect  in  Europe  all  the  des- 
potisms and  all  the  degeneracies  of  Brahminism,  by  the  divi- 
sions of  castes,  and  domination  of  the  priest. 

Honor  and  remembrance,  in  the  name  of  the  peoples,  in  the 
name  of  humanity ;  honor  and  recollection  in  the  history  of 
painfully  conquered  progress,  honor  in  the  name  of  eternal  jus- 
tice, to  the  sovereign  influence  that  in  1853  erased  from  ouc 
codes  this  odious  relic  of  antique  immorality  and  corruption ! 

We  have  said  that  in  India,  civil  death,  the  complete  exclu- 
sion from  caste,  was  pronounced  either  by  the  judge  for  purely 
civil,  or  by  the  priest  for  religious  oflences.  It  was  certainly 
necessary  for  Papal  Rome,  when  in  the  middle  ages  attempting 
the  rdle  of  Hindoo  Brahmins,  to  appropriate  such  customs; 
the  instrument  fitted  her  hand  too  well,  and  she  would  have  in- 
vented, had  she  not  inherited  it  from  her  illustrious  ancestors. 

Excommunication  was  nothing  else  than  a  weapon  of  des- 
potism picked  up  in  the  pagodas  of  Brahma,  for  the  subjugation 
of  peoples  and  of  kings,  and  for  triumph  of  the  priest.  We 
ha\e  seen  it  at  work,  in  the  middle  ages,  cursing  peoples  in 


India's  relation  to  ANTiQunv.  93 

their  posterity — anathematizing  kings  in  their  dynasty.  We 
have  seen  Savonarola  die  at  the  stake  for  having  expose  i  the 
disorders  of  Alexander  VI.,  and  the  pious  Robert,  of  France, 
abandoned  by  his  friends  and  his  most  faithful  servants,  obliged 
to  bend  the  knee  under  the  hand  of  a  religious  fanatic 

We  have  seen  human  hecatombs  on  the  burning  piles  of 
feith,  and  the  altar  reddened  with  blood. 

Ages  have  passed  away ;  we  are  bat  wakening  to  progress  of 
free  thought.  But  let  us  expect  otruggles  without  end,  until 
the  day  when  we  shall  have  courage  to  arraign  all  sacerdotalism 
at  the  bar  of  liberty. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  DEVADASSIS,   VIRGINS   OF   THE    PAGODAS. — CUSTOMS    PRE 

SERVED  BY  ALL  ANCIENT  WORSHIPS. THE   PYTHONESSES  AT 

ATHENS. — THE   PYTHONESS    OF    ENDOR. THE    VESTALS  AT 

ROME. 

We  shall  be  brief  on  the  points  for  consideration  suggested 
by  the  matters  of  this  chapter,  which  would  easily  open  the 
door  to  elaborate  study  of  all  ancient  worships.  It  is  scarce 
necessary  to  say  such  is  not  our  object 

After  having,  to  the  best  of  our  ability,  proven  the  influence 
of  India  on  all  antique  society,  by  its  legislation,  its  science, 
moral  and  philosop'iic ;  proven  that  the  impotence,  the  degnu 


94  THE   BIBLE    IN   INDIA.^ 

dation,  and  the  fall  of  ancient  civilization,  had  no  other  causa 
than  corruption  of  the  religious  idea  by  those  especially  who 
ought  to  have  presented  it  to  the  peoples  in  all  its  divine  purity; 
after  having  demonstrated  the  identity  of  origin  of  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  white  race,  by  the  unity  of  idea  of  all  the  great 
principles  that  pervaded  the  ancient  world ;  we  would  now  sim- 
ply intimate  that  in  farther  examining  these  principles,  in  study 
ing  them  in  all  their  relative  details,  in  all  the  results  they  pro- 
duce, we  shall  find  the  same  points  of  contact,  the  same  points 
of  logical  resemblance,  betraying,  maugre  the  conceptions  of 
different  peoples  who  organized  and  necessarily  modified  those 
details,  a  filiation  that  ascends  to  the  remote  myths  and  legends 
of  the  Hindoos. 

The  Devadassi,  in  primitive  times,  were  virgins  attached  to 
the  service  of  pagodas  and  temples,  and  whose  functions  were 
as  various  as  they  were  numerous.  Some  tended  the  sacred 
fire  that  burned  day  and  night  before  the  symbolic  statue  of 
the  Holy  Trinity  (Trimourti)  —  Brahma,  Vischnou,  and  Sivi. 
Others,  on  the  days  of  procession,  danced  before  the  car  or  ark, 
which  carried  through  the  villages  and  the  country,  either  the 
statue  of  tliis  Trinity  or  those  of  the  three  persons  composing 
it. 

Others  again,  in  the  wild  delirium  produced  by  an  exciting 
beverage,  of  which  the  Brahmins  have  not  yet  lost  the  secret, 
uttered  oracles  in  the  sanctuaries,  either  to  fanaticise  fakirs  an^ 
sunniassys  (holy  mendicants),  or  to  extort  from  the  amazed 
people,  abundant  offering  of  fruit,  rice,  cattle  and  money. 

There  are  others,  whose  mission  is  to  sing  sacred  h)mins  of 
rejoicing  and  happiness  at  family  sacrifices  and  festivals,  and  to 
bring  back  to  the  Brahmins,  their  masters,  presents  of  every 
kind,  which  each  individual  is  bound  to  give  them.  Their  pres- 
ence was  also  necessary  at  those  funeral  ceremonies  which  reli- 
gion required  each  sor  to  accomplish  at  the  death,  and  on  each 
recurring  anniversary  of  the  death,  of  his  father  and  of  hi«. 
mother. 

Kings,  on  the  eve  of  a  battle,  or  of  any  other  great  events 


INDIA'S   RELATION   TO   ANTIQUmr.  95 

consulted  those  who  received  the  revelations  of  the  Divinitj', 
and  piously  followed  tlieir  oracles,  which  always  thus  coot- 
menced : 

"  O  Great  King  Douchmanta  !  whose  power  is  known  to 
the  whole  world,  thou  shalt  give  to  the  Brahmins  fifty  elephants 
with  trappings  of  gold,  two  hundred  oxen  that  have  not  yet 
borne  the  yoke,"  &c. 

Or  otherwise : 

"  O  Great  King  Vaswamitra !  thou  whose  riches  would  fill 
the  immense  ocean,  wouldst  thou  have  a  son  as  great  and  as 
magnanimous  as  his  father,  make  an  offering  to  the  Brahmins 
of  unsurpassable  splendor,"  &c.* 

Briefly,  gi-atifications  for  the  Brahmin,  presents  to  the  Brah- 
min.    Give,  give,  for  the  race  is  insatiable. 

Needless  to  say  that  the  great  King  Douchmanta,  or  Vaswa- 
mitra, promptly  ruined  himself  to  satisfy  the  divine  command. 

These  Hindoo  customs  doubtless  accompanied  emigrations, 
and  to  them  should  be  attributed  tlie  employment  of  women  in 
all  the  mysteries  of  antiquity. 

The  consecrated  virgins  of  Egypt,  who  danced  before  the 
statues  of  gods,  the  pythonesses  of  Delphi,  the  priestesses  of 
Ceres,  who  delivered  oracles,  the  vestals  of  Rome  who  tended 
the  sacred  fire,  were  but  heirs  of  the  devadassi  of  India ;  abso- 
lute identity  of  role  and  of  attributes,  render  any  other  conclu- 
sion impossible. 

This  tradition  of  the  woman,  virgin  and  priestess,  is  so  much 
an  Oriental  importation,  that  we  see  all  the  nations  of  antiquity 
reject  it  as  they  gradually  emancipate  themselves  from  super- 
stition and  mystery.  If,  then,  it  appears  but  a  legacy  from  the 
primitive  cradle,  nothing  more  natural  than  to  retrace  it  to  the 
country  whence  departed  the  colonizing  tribes. 


•  "  O  great  people  of  England,  whose  wealth  is  only  surpassed  by  youy 
credulity,  give  to  the  Chief  Brahmin  of  London  one  million  sterling,  one 
orore  of  rupees  !"  And  thus  does  the  ii»ost  audacious  Brahminism  of  the 
Sast  pale  ))efore  its  unflinching  representative  of  the  West  1 


f6  THE    BIBLE    IX  INDIA» 

No  more  than  other  people  of  antiquity,  could  the  Hebrew! 
escape  beliefs,  then  general ;  and  the  Bible  informs  us,  that 
Saul,  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of  Gilboa,  went  to  consult  the 
Witch  of  Endor,  who  made  the  ghost  of  Samuel  the  Prophet 
appear  to  him. 

We  may  argue,  disciss,  deny,  but  we  dare  assert,  shall  not 
^prove  this  influence  of  India  on  the  world,  which  reappears 
at  each  step,  in  great  principles,  as  in  the  details  of  their  appli 
cation. 

Very  certainly,  these  devadassi,  these  pythonesses,  these 
consecrated  virgins,  and  these  vestals,  were,  in  antiquity,  as  in 
India,  but  one  more  means  of  domination — but  a  fraud  added 
to  all  the  others,  to  attract  to  the  temple  an  impure  current  of 
jyious  gifts  and  of  rich  offerings. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


SIMPLE   RETROSPECT. 


We  have  done  with  this  rapid  review  of  the  influence  of  India 
and  of  Brahmanism  on  ancient  civilization. 

We  have  explained  this  influence  on  one  side,  by  emigrations 
implanting  on  the  different  soils  they  came  to  colonize,  souve- 
nirs of  their  language  and  of  their  primitive  social  and  religious 
institutions  ;  and,  on  the  other,  by  the  sages  and  the  legislators, 
who,  to  complete  their  studies,  all  -v^ent  to  the  East,  to  seek  --'■* 
the  origin  of  all  science  and  of  all  tradition. 


INDIA'S    RELATION   TO   ANTIQUITY.  97 

Everywhere  we  have  seen  at  the  head  of  each  newly  formed 
society,  the  disastrous  influence  of  the  priest,  begetting  despot- 
ism the  most  unenlightened,  subjugation  of  the  people,  and 
corruption  the  most  flagrant. 

We  have  shown  the  ancient  world,  maugre  its  vestiges  of 
independence,  ending,  like  India,  of  which  it  was  an  emanation, 
in  an  early  old  age,  and  a  decrepitude  which  had  their  origin  in 
the  superstitions  of  the  masses,  from  perversion  of  the  religious 
idea. 

All  sublime  truth  on  the  Unity  of  God,  the  Trinity,  and  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  were  withheld  from  them  by  the  Brah- 
mins and  priests,  who  would  have  blushed  to  believe  all  the 
superstitions  which  they  themselves  had  engendered  in  the 
multitude  to  secure  domination  for  their  caste  and  their  adepts. 

Zoroaster  doubtless  intended  to  popularize  these  sublime 
notions,  but  he  was  cast  off  by  his  followers,  and  his  reform 
only  ended  in  a  new  consecration  of  sacerdotal  power. 

Boudha,  too,  who  had  preceded  him,  although  expelled  from 
India  for  his  independence  of  thought,  afterwards  became, 
similarly,  in  Thibet,  in  China,  and  in  Japan,  a  symbol  of  subju- 
gation and  intolerance. 

These  reformers  were  in  advance  of  their  age,  and  their  men 
were  not  yet  born. 

In  the  course  of  this  work,  we  shall  study  the  procedure  of 
Moses  and  of  Christ,  which  we  shall  explain  by  that  of  Christna, 
the  greatest  of  philosophers  we  venture  to  say,  not  only  of 
India,  but  of  the  entire  world. 

If  we  have  succeeded  in  proving  that  entire  antiquity  was,  by 
language,  usages,  customs,  and  poHtical  traditions,  but  an 
emanation  from  India,  who,  then,  will  dare  to  cast  the  stone  at 
us  if  we  are  forced,  logically  and  fatally,  to  maintain,  and  to 
prove,  that  in  India  must  be  sought  the  source  of  primitive 
revelation,  and  of  all  religious  traditions  ? 

What !  this  people  who  so  deeply  stamped  their  traces  on 
Persia,  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome,  who  gave  these  countries 


95  THE    BIBLE    IN   INDIA. 

their  language,  their  political  organization,  their  laws,  would  nd 
equally  have  imported  the  religious  idea  ? 

What !  the  Greek,  the  Latin,  the  Hebrew,  may  be  born  of 
the  Sanscrit,  and  the  ablation  stop  there  ?    That  is  inadmissible. 

As  Braminism  implanted  on  these  different  soils  all  the 
superstitions,  with  the  aid  of  which  it  had  deluded  and  bowed 
the  masses  to  its  yoke,  so  did  Manou  and  Manes  bring  with 
them  the  pure  primitive  traditions,  the  traditions  of  the  Vedas, 
which  they  reserved  for  the  priests,  the  Levites,  and  adepts, 
and  which  inspired  the  two  philosophers  to  whom  we  owe  the 
foundation  of  Hebrew  and  Christian  societies. 

We  shall  see  whence  Moses  exhumed  his  Pentateuch,  that  is, 
the  first  five  books  of  the  Bible,  of  which  he  is  considered  the 
author,  viz.,  Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  and  Deut- 
eronomy. 

When  we  shall  have  thus  cleared  the  way,  in  proving  that 
Hebrew  civiHzation  was,  like  all  others  of  ancient  times,  but  a 
reflection  of  India,  a  souvenir  of  that  common  parent,  we  may 
be  permitted,  without  fear,  to  examine  the  role  played  by  the 
Christian  philosopher,  who,  in  retaining  Hebrew  tradition,  puri- 
fied it  by  aid  of  the  7norale  of  Christna,  the  great  Hindoo 
reformer,  which  he  had  no  doubt  been  able  to  study  for  himself 
in  the  sacred  books  of  Egjrpt  and  of  India.* 

What  more  natural,  more  simple,  and  more  logical,  than  our 
conclusion,  from  the  moment  we  energetically  deny  all  revela- 
tion, as  opposed  to  good  sense,  to  reason,  and  to  the  dignity  of 
God;  from  the  moment  we  relegate  all  incarnations,  to  the 
domain  of  fable  and  of  romance  ? 

Ought  we  not  to  inquire  if  some  common  bond  does  not 
unite  all  peoples ;  if,  in  fact,  in  the  history  of  past  civilizations, 
all  conquests  of  thought  have  not  been  connected  with  each 
other  ? 

Have  not  the  nineteen  centuries  of  our  modem  era  supported 


•  As  probable  as  M.  Kenan's  romantic  picture  of  the  youthful  Christy 
I  the  heights  of  Nazareth  I 


India's  relation  to  antiquity.  9$ 

each  its  successor  in  their  advance  ?   Has  not  each  forward  step 
leaned  for  support  on  something  aheady  effected? 

The  inquirer,  who,  three  thousand  years  hence,  when  othei 
peoples  have  been  born  and  other  civilizations  have  succeeded 
ours,  shall  proclaim  this  truism  of  to-day,  will  but  accompUsh 
for  our  epocn,  a  reconstruction  such  as  this  work  desires  to 
effect  for  ancient  times 


PART    SECOND. 


MOSES  OR  MOISE  AND  HEBREW  SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER  I. 


REVELATIONS  —  INCARNATIONS. 


At  the  opening  of  our  Second  Part,  it  becomes  indispersable 
to  proclaim  our  absolute  rejection  of  all  revelations,  as  well 
those  of  Manou,  of  Zoroaster,  and  of  Man^s,  as  that  of  Moses ; 
as  well  those  of  Christna  and  of  Boudha,  as  that  of  Christ. 

The  grounds  of  this  rejection  are  easily  stated. 

God,  in  creating,  gave  to  matter,  to  physical  natwe,  final 
laws,  which  he  neither  can  nor  will  change.  In  creating  the 
soul,  the  intelligence,  moral  nature^  in  like  manner  he  sub* 
jected  it  to  unchanging  principles,  which  it  would  neither  be- 
come his  dignity  nor  his  wisdom  in  the  least  to  modify. 

He  implanted  in  the  conscience  of  free  and  responsible  man, 
sublime  notions  of  immortality  in  another  life,  of  the  merits 
and  demerits  of  good  and  of  evil,  gave  him  to  understand  tliat 


MOSES  AND   HEBREW  SOaElY.  lOl 

the  hand  of  an  Omnipotent  Being  governed  the  world ;  then 
left  his  creature  free  to  accomplish  his  mysterious  destiny  here 
below. 

Such  is  the  conclusion  of  my  reason,  of  that  reason  which  is  the 
gift  of  God  himself  But  I  at  least  there  find  a  unity  of  design, 
of  eternal  wisdom,  in  physical  and  moral  nature,  which  content* 
me,  and  which  I  can  comprehend. 

For  me  there  is  no  other  revelation. 

Manou,  Christna,  Boudha,  Man^s,  Zoroaster,  Moses,  and 
Christ,  who  all  claimed  divinity  or  divine  missions,  were  but 
men,  who,  the  better  to  impress  me  masses,  skilfully  concealed 
their  origin,  and  availed  themselves  of  the  aid  of  prodigies  and 
mysteries. 

You  are  content  to  accept  Moses  as  a  prophet,  and  Christ  as 
of  divine  origin  : 

But  do  you  then  forget 

That  Egypt  accepted  Man^s? 

That  Persia  recognized  Zoroaster  ? 

That  India  deified  Manou  and  Christna  ? 

That  Thibet,  Tartary,  China,  Japan,  worship  Boudha  ? 

And  that,  at  your  very  door,  a  portion  of  Europe,  of  Asia, 
and  of  Africa,  at  this  moment  bow  down  to  Mahomet  ? 

Do  you,  then,  forget  that  all  these  people,  who  form  an  im- 
mense majority  against  you,  reject  your  prophets,  and  your 
celestial  envoys,  with  as  much  contempt  as  you  reject  theirs? 

Who  are  you,  then,  to  declare  yourselves  right,  and  them 
wrong? 

I  chance  to  be  born  here  or  tliere ;  chance  then  is  to  decide 
the  truth  or  falsehood  of  my  beliefs. 

Here  God  wiL  receive  my  prayer ;  there  he  will  reject  it. 

All !  how  man  has  succeeded  in  making  his  god  after  his  own 
image,  with  all  his  weaknesses,  all  his  imperfections,  placing  him 
in  the  van  of  all  ambitions  and  all  intolerances. 

And,  in  the  name  of  supreme  wisdom,  and  supreme  jus- 
tice, we  make  nations  of  Brahmins  and  nations  of  Farias ;  to 
those  we  open  future  reivards,  to  these  we  refuse  them.     Faugh  1 


I03  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

if  social  and  political  ideas  have  advanced,  for  religious  ideal 

we  are  still  in  Brahminical  times. 

And  this  is  why  I  reject  revelations — cause  of  all  human  dis- 
sensions, of  Jill  religious  wars,  of  all  the  hecatombs,  and  of  all 
the  burning  piles  of  sacredotal  despotism. 

Revelation  is  belief  in  God,  knowledge  of  good  and  of  evil 
and  faith  in  immortality,  and  conscience  is  the  instructor. 

All  beyond  is  but  superstition  invented  by  the  priest  to  cloak 
liis  despotism. 

As  to  incarnation : 

Had  I  been  bom  in  India,  I  should  believe  in  that  of  Christna ; 
if  bom  in  Japan  or  China,  I  should  believe  in  that  of  Boudha. 

Bom  in  Europe,  must  I  believe  in  that  of  Christ  ? 

No !  I  make  of  God  a  grander  and  more  venerable  image ; 
this  mortal  envelope,  maugre  all  the  explanations  of  poetry 
and  of  legend,  is  worthy  neither  of  his  prescience,  nor  of  his 
wisdom ;  and  I  leave  to  those  who  dare,  the  profanity  of  thus 
dishonoring  him. 

Christna,  Boudha,  Christ,  all  played  a  human  r61e,  and  God 
has  judged  them,  as  all,  according  to  the  good  they  accom- 
plished. 

It  is  just,  however,  to  state  that  neither  of  these  men  appears 
to  have  claimed  divine  patemity.  Remarkably  they  all  passed 
on,  affording  to  peoples  the  instruction  of  their  example  and 
teaching,  without  giving  their  doctrines  the  durable  form  of 
written  records,  leaving  to  their  disciples  the  care  of  preserving 
their  lessons. 

I  can  readily  believe  tliat  successors  more  cunning  than  their 
master,  made  of  him  a  god,  to  smooth  their  own  way,  present 
themselves  to  the  people  as  celestial  messengers,  and  thus  sanc- 
tify their  ambitious  pretension. 

And  this  is  why  I  repudiate  all  incarnation. 

Was  it  not  in  its  name  that,  equally  at  the  four  comers  of  the 
globe,  in  India,  China,  and  Europe,  blood  was  spilled  and  burn- 
ing piles  erected  ? 

Ah  1  if  God  could  ever  have  had  an  idea  of  incarnating  himi 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOaETY.  lOJ 

self,  It  would  have  been  at  those  cursed  epochs,  when  torture 
reigned  m  his  name,  that  he  would  have  come  to  chastise  the 
butchers  who  veiled  themselves  under  his  law  I 

The  nations  have  gradually  accomplished  their  social  and 
political  revolutions ;  it  remains  for  them  to  effect  their  relig 
ous  emancipation. 


CHAPTER  IL 

ZEUS  —  JEZEUS  —  ISIS  —  JESUS. 

[On  the  principle  that  no  authority,  whether  of  Jove  or  Jeho 

van,  can  make  trutli  untrue,  nor  heaven  itself  make  iniquity 
just,  we  omit  the  author's  critical  etymologies,  in  identification 
of  the  above  four  names,  to  proceed  with  his  facts,  and  con- 
clusions from  those  facts. —  Translator^ 

Zeus,  in  Sanscrit,  signfies  God,  supreme ;  it  is  the  epithet  o( 
Brahma — non-operating,  unrevealed,  before  creation.  This 
name  expresses  in  itself  all  the  attributes  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  Brahma,  Vischnou,  Siva. 

This  expression  of  Zeus  was  accepted,  without  the  slightest 
modification,  by  the  Greeks.  For  them  it  equally  represented 
God  in  his  piu-e  essence — in  his  mystic  existence;  when  he 
awakes  from  his  repose  and  reveals  himself  in  action,  the  Tu- 


X04  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA 

preme  Being  receives,  in  Greek  mythology,  the  aame  of  Zeu» 
pater,  that  is,  Jupiter,  God,  Father,  Creator,  Master  of  Heavea 
and  of  Men. 

The  Latin,  adopting  this  Sanscrit  and  Greek  word,  Zeus, 
makes  but  a  sHght  written  modification ;  and  the  name  of  Zeus 
becomes  Deus,  whence  we  have  ourselves  derived  our  expres- 
sion of  Dieu,  with  a  signification  identical  with  that  adopted  by 
the  ancients. 

God  is,  in  fact,  in  the  Christian  idea,  the  name  of  the  Sym- 
bolic Being,  uniting  in  himself  all  the  attributes  of  the  three  per- 
sons of  the  Trinity  —  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 

Assuredly  I  do  not  invent  either  the  affinities  of  names,  or  of 
historic  facts,  either  the  identities  of  civilizations,  or  the  simili- 
tudes of  language  which  lead  me  to  discover  in  the  East  and  in 
India,  the  cradle  of  our  race.  I  desire  to  be  logical,  and  never 
attempt  to  consider  a  fact  in  its  isolation,  to  explain  it  by  itself, 
or  by  chance,  and  to  shew  that  if  man  descends  from  man,  the 
fatal  corollary  of  this  truth  is  to  make  nations  emanate  from 
other  nations,  more  ancient. 

There  is  here,  I  repeat,  no  new  system ;  it  is  but  the  logic 
of  reason  applied  to  the  logic  of  history. 

I  cannot  too  much  insist  upon  this  :  every  one  admits 
modern  imitations  of  the  ancients,  whom  they  suppose  to 
have  lighted  the  torch  of  primitive  civilization.  Well,  soon 
or  late  we  must  make  up  our  mind,  and  admit  that  an- 
tiquity copied  India  more  servilely  than  it  has  been  copied 
by  us. 

We  must  be  content  to  mitigate  our  unequalled  admira- 
tion of  centuries,  and  those  men  who  are  continually  pre- 
sented to  us  as  models,  who  have  had  only  imitators  and 
knew  no  precursors.  No  doubt  they  gave  a  brilliant  eclai 
to  the  primordial  light  they  had  received  from  the  East; 
but  that  kclat  should  not  be  permitted  to  ignore  percursor 
civilizations. 

It  is  scarce  a  century  since  India  became  revealed  to 
us.     Veiy  small  is  the  number  of  those  who  have  had  tha 


MOSES  AND   HEBREW  SOaETY.  IO$ 

courage  ta  explore,  on  the  soi),  the  monuments,  the  manu- 
scripts, all  the  boundless  treasures  of  its  first  ages.  Some 
have  devoted  life  to  the  study  of  Sanscrit,  and  sought  to  popu- 
larize the  taste  in  Europe. 

The  harvest  surpassed  all  expectation.  But  what  does  not 
yet  remain  to  be  discovered,  to  be  revealed !  We  have  re- 
covered the  primitive  language,  that,  perhaps,  murmured  by  the 
first  man ;  some  translated  fragments  have  come  to  inform  us 
that  the  unity  of  God,  the  immortality  of  the  Soul,  that  all  our 
beliefs,  moral  and  philosophic,  were  not  merely  of  yesterday's 
growth ;  the  obscurity  of  the  past  begins  to  disperse.  En 
avant,  then  !  always  forward ;  and  research  will  at  last  make 
the  light  so  clear  as  to  preclude  denial. 

But  for  that  we  must  advance  as  to  the  conquest  of  the  ex- 
act sciences,  shut  the  door  against  dreams,  idealism,  and  mys- 
tery, receive  only  as  axiom,  God  and  reason,  and  be  persuaded 
that  the  civilizations  that  preceded  us  on  earth  did  not  die  out 
without  bequeathing  to  their  successors  the  influence  of  their 
ideas  and  of  their  examples. 

Whenever  I  meet  this  subject,  I  stop  to  investigate  it  farther, 
thoughtless  of  the  reproach  of  tedious  repetition,  which  these 
hors-d'(£uvres  may  bring  upon  me. 

I  would  not  present  myself  defenceless,  to  the  criticism  of 
ignorance  and  party  spirit,  and  I  desire  to  exercise  unquestion- 
able good  faith,  in  developing  the  rationalist  opinions  that  have 
pervaded  this  work. 

Writing  for  the  decided  partisans  of  free  judgment  and  reason, 
I  say  to  them  loudly : 

If  you  believe  in  the  mysteries  of  Isis  in  Egypt,  of  Eleusis  in 
Greece,  of  Vesta  at  Rome,  in  burning  bushes,  and  celestial 
messengers,  who  no  longer  dare  present  themselves,  whatever, 
perhaps,  our  need ; 

If  you  believe  that  at  any  past  epoch  the  dead  were  resusci- 
tated, the  deaf,  the  lame,  and  the  blind  were  supematurally  ro^ 
ftored: 


lotf  THE  BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

If  you  believe  in  Rakchasas  and  Pisatchas,  in  Beelzebub,  and 
all  the  devils  of  mythology : 

If  you  believe  in  devas,  in  angels,  and  in  saints : 

If  yes !  trouble  yourself  not  with  tcis  book,  it  is  not  ad- 
dressed to  you. 

If  no,  well  then  listen  and  support  me.  I  appeal  but  to 
your  reason,  and  your  reason  alone  should  understand 
me. 

Do  you  suppose  that  I  should  have  undertaken  this  work  if 
the  epoch  of  which  I  dream  had  arrived,  if  I  did  not  see 
fanaticism  crying  on  one  side :  credo  quia  absurdum.  I  be- 
lieve because  it  is  absurd;  —  and  on  the  other,  the  most  de- 
voted partisans  of  free  thought,  influenced  by  souvenirs  and 
vulgar  superstitions,  even  while  saying :  "I  cannot  believe," 
immediately  add,  "still  we  should  like  the  refutation  of 
proofs  ?  " 

Such  is  still  our  position. 

We  must  stoop  to  battle  with  the  absurd  to  prove  its  ab- 
surdity. 

At  the  commencement  of  my  researches,  I,  one  day,  said  to 
a  rationalist : 

"  I  am  persuaded  that  Moses  must  have  constructed  his 
Bible  from  the  sacred  book  of  the  Egyptians,  who  themselves 
received  them  from  India." 

"It  would  require  proofs,"  was  the  reply. 

"  But,"  I  continued,  "do  you  not  know  that  he  was  initiated 
by  the  priests  at  the  court  of  Pharaoh?  Is  it  not,  then, 
reasonable  to  conclude  that  he  utilized  the  knowledge  he 
had  acquired,  when  constructing  institutions  for  the  He- 
brews ?  " 

"It  would  require  proofs." 

"  Do  you  then  consider  him  a  messenger  of  God  ? " 

"  No,  but  proofs  would  not  be  inconvenient." 

"What!  does  not  your  intelligence  discover  in  the  fad 
that  Moses  studied  for  more  than  thirty  years  in  Eg>T)t, 
Ignorant   even  of  his  own  Hebrew  orig^in,  a  striking  prijof 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIEIY.  I07 

in  favor  of  the  opinion  I  have  just  expressed!  Let  us 
then  obliterate  this  succession  of  ages  which  may  obscure 
©ur  judgment." 

*'Do  you  suppose  that  a  European,  called  upon  to  con- 
struct laws  and  a  worship  for  one  of  the  savage  tribes  of 
central  Africa,  would  think  of  inventing  that  worship  and 
those  laws,  instead  of  employing  the  knowledge  acquired  in 
his  own  country,  modified  and  adapted  to  the  capacities  of 
the  people  whom  he  desired  to  regenerate?" 

"Such  an  opinion  would  certainly  be  illogical." 

"Well!  and  then?" 

"  Your  reasoning  is  sound ;  but  believe  me  our  old  Europe 
loves  its  fetiches ;  if  you  touch  Moses,  give  proofs,  still 
proofs,  always  proofs." 

And  this  is  why,  instead  of  simply  comparing  the  works 
of  Manou  and  the  Vedas  with  the  works  of  Moses  : 

The  work  of  Christna  and  that  of  Christ : 

And  saying,  this  is  derived  from  that.  I  preferred  to  show, 
in  support  of  this  opinion,  that  the  entire  of  antiquity  had 
its  origin  in  the  East  and  in  India,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
.eave  to  my  adversaries  but  the  alternative  of  denying  all 
—  which  is  to  admit  all. 

Thus,  as  we  have  seen,  the  name,  which  all  nations  have 
assigned  the  Supreme  Being,  comes  from  the  Sanscrit  ex- 
pression Zeus. 

Jezeus,  another  Sanscrit  expression,  signifying  the  pure  divine 
essence,  was  very  certainly  the  root,  the  radical  origin,  of  a 
crowd  of  other  names  of  antiquity  borne  alike  by  gods  and 
by  distinguished  men.  Such  as  Isis,  the  Egyptian  goddess; 
Josu6,  in  Hebrew,  Josuah,  the  successor  of  Moses ;  Josias, 
king  of  the  Hebrews ;  and  Jeseus  or  Jesus ;  in  Hebrew, 
Jeosuah. 

The  name  of  Jesus,  or  Jeseus,  or  Jeosuah,  very  common  with 
the  Hebrews,  was  in  ancient  IndJa  the  title,  the  consecrated 
epithet  assigned  to  all  incarnations,  as  all  legislators  adopted 
the  name  of  Mancu. 


Io8  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

The  officiating  Brahmins  in  Itemples  and  pagodas  now  ac 
cord  this  title  of  Jeseus,  or  pure  essence,  or  divine  emana- 
tion, only  to  Christna,  who  is  alone  recognized  as  the  word, 
the  true  incarnation,  by  the  Vischnouites  and  free-thinkers  of 
Brahminism. 

We  simply  state  these  etymological  affinities,  of  which  we 
can  understand  all  the  importance  :  they  will  hereafter  become 
a  valuable  support. 

Prejudiced  criticism  will,  we  doubt  not,  do  its  utmost  to  re- 
fute the  opinion  that  assigns  a  common  origin  to  those  differ- 
ent names ;  it  will  not  succeed  in  obliterating  their  striking 
resemblance;   and  that  suffices  us. 

Let  who  will  refer  these  resemblances  to  chance,  that  great 
resort  of  desperate  argument,  we  shall  surely  have  the  sup- 
port of  all  thoughtful  and  independent  spirits. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   PARIAS   OF   EGYPT  AND   MOSES. 

Modem  peoples  who  have  become  colonists,  have  not,  on 
the  new  soil  to  which  they  have  brought  energy  and  life,  sur- 
rounded themselves  with  ridiculous  fables.  No  man  has  started 
up  to  say  to  them:  —  **I  am  a  messenger  of  God,  I  come  to 
bring  you  the  word  revealed  to  me." 


MOSES  AM)   HEBREW  SOaETT.  I09 

We  have  now  reached  the  most  important  part  of  our  work ; 

on  this  burning  ground,  where  we  are  about  courageously  to  at 
tack  all  the  superstitions,  all  the  absurdities  that  Judaism  has 
bequeathed  to  our  modern  societies,  we  shall  bring  a  spirit  of 
criticism,  firm  and  impartial,  free  from  all  systems  and  all  obli- 
gatory beliefs,  and  having  respect  alone  for  truth. 

Things  which  we  should  repudiate  as  impossible  in  the  pres- 
ent, we  shall  reject  as  impossible  in  the  past. 

"Whenever  the  marvellous  is  at  war  witn  reason,  we  shall  de- 
xiand  its  proofs,  by  the  same  right  that  its  partisans  themselves 
exact  them  of  reason. 

When  we  encounter  the  absurd,  we  shall  simply  say  —  you 
are  absurd,  and  pass  on. 

Man  has  not  changed  either  in  his  corporal  form,  or  in  his 
faculties,  and  if  he  admits  as  true,  in  ancient  and  fabulous 
times,  what  would  make  him  smile  with  pity  to-day,  it  is  that  he 
has  not  coiuage  for  a  frank  and  rational  opinion,  and  that  he  is 
unable  to  shake  off  the  incubus  of  fable,  with  which  it  was 
thought  right  to  obscure  his  intelligence  from  the  cradle. 

We  perfectly  understand  why  modem  intolerances  unite  to 
launch  all  their  thunders  against  reason,  and  to  anathematize 
and  repudiate  its  conquests.  It  is  that  from  the  day  when  free- 
dom of  judgment  shall  become  the  one  recognized  law  for  all 
consciences,  their  reign  wall  end,  from  the  impossibility  in  which 
they  will  find  themselves  of  explaining  the  tales,  the  legends, 
and  the  mysterious  practices  which  constitute  their  strength. 

Go  and  ask  the  Australians,  and  the  free  Americans,  how , 
they  would  have  received  Boudha  or  Manou,  Zoroaster,  or 
Moses.* 

If  it  is  owing  to  the  development  of  intelligence,  and  to  free- 
dom of  judgment,  that  such  facts  have  not  been  produced 


♦  The  Australians  and  Americans,  unhappily,  took  Moses  with  them,  just 
as,  according  to  our  author,  Himalayan  emigrations  established  themselves 
in  the  West,  cum  penatibus  et  magnis  diisy  —  the  gods  and  household  goda, 
and  even  the  men  and  heroes  of  their  cradle  recoilections. 
10 


no  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

amongst  these  new  peoples,  are  we  not  justified  in  attributin| 
their  production  amongst  ancient  peoples,  to  the  divisions  of 
caste,  the  subjugation  and  the  ignorance  of  the  masses? 

This  is  such  a  vulgar  truth  that  we  feel  no  need  of  proofs  to 
establish  it. 

May  our  brothers  who  have  crossed  the  ocean,  to  a  soil  pure 
from  all  the  obscurities  of  the  past,  from  all  sacredotal  despot* 
ism,  aid  us  by  their  example  soon  to  emancipate  civil  authori- 
ty from  religious  influence,  throughout  the  constitutions  of 
Europe. 

There  can  be  no  progress,  but  at  this  cost.  It  is  impossible 
still  to  dream  of  an  alliance  which,  until  now,  has  only  served 
to  enchain  thought,  to  enthral  nations,  and  to  bend  kings  under 
its  supervision. 

This  is  what  we  have  seen  in  our  rapid  sketch  of  antique 
civilizations,  stifled  under  Brahminism,  which  from  India  con- 
taminated them  all ;  this  is  what  we  shall  see  still  more  distinctly, 
from  study  of  all  the  religious  ideas  which,  borrowed  by  Judea 
from  Egypt  and  India,  have  played,  as  we  know,  the  anti-pro- 
gressive part  in  modern  times. 

As  we  have  shown,  Egypt  received  from  India,  by  Man^s  or 
Manou,  its  social  institutions  and  laws,  which  resulted  in  divi- 
sion of  the  people  into  four  castes,  and  placing  the  priest  in  the 
first  rank;  in  the  second,  kings;  then  traders  and  artisans; 
and  last  in  the  social  scale,  the  proletaire^  —  the  menial,  almost 
a  slave. 

These  institutions,  and  the  same  penal  code  produced,  as  in 
India,  with  the  aid  of  those  condemned  to  exclusion  from  all 
caste,  a  mixed  class,  refuse  of  all  the  others,  who,  declared  for- 
ever impure  and  proscribed,  can  never  efiace  the  mdelible 
stain  stamped  upon  them  by  the  law. 

These  refuse  of  caste,  these  parias  of  Egypt,  tempted  by 
Moses  with  the  hope  of  liberty,  became  progenitors  of  the  He* 
brew«,  of  that  nation  pompously  called  the  people  of  Gf)d. 

It  is  impossible  to  adopt  any  other  conclusion  as  to  the  r^ 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIETY.  Ill 

generation  of  this  servile  race,  when  we  examine,  whether  ia 
their  ensemble  or  their  details,  all  the  societies  of  thai  epoch. 

If  India  had  its  parias,  Greece  had  its  helotes. 

If  Egypt  had  its  outcasts,  Rome  had  its  servile  class,  to  which 
she  long  refused  the  name  of  citizen. 

It  was  completely  in  the  spirit  of  ancient  peoples  to  provnde 
themselves  with  slaves,  whether  by  conquest  or  by  the  degrada- 
tion of  criminals  as  outcasts  from  society,  even  in  their  descend- 
ants ;  and,  if  we  make  the  Hebrews  descend  from  the  outcast 
classes  of  Eg}^pt,  it  is  that  in  exploring  the  most  remote  historic 
traditions,  it  does  not  appear  that  they  could  have  been  reduced 
to  ser\^tude  by  the  vicis^tudes  of  war ;  and  that,  as  a  people, 
they  but  date  from  Moses. 

However,  we  must  choose  between  this  origin,  rational  and 
confonnable  to  the  social  state  of  ancient  civilization ;  and  that 
which  Moses  himself  assigns  his  people  in  the  two  first  books 
of  the  Bible,  —  Genesis  and  Exodus. 

Let  us  see,  then,  what  this  legislator  must  have  been.  From 
this  inquir)''  will  result  proofs  as  convincing  as  possible  to  give, 
after  a  lapse  of  near  four  thousand  years,  or  an  epoch  which 
fables  and  legends  of  all  kinds  have  contributed  not  a  little  to 
envelop  in  clouds  and  obscurity. 

According  to  Moses  himself,  the  Hebrews  having  multiplied 
to  such  extent  as  to  form  a  nation  within  a  nation,  and  seiious- 
ly  to  alarm  Pharaoh,  who  then  reigned,  he  sought  by  eveiy 
means  in  his  power  to  destroy  them,  notably  by  ordering  the 
destruction  at  birth  of  all  male  infants :  a  poor  woman  unable 
to  suffer  the  death  of  her  infant  before  her  eyes,  preferred  ex- 
posing him  in  a  willow  basket  on  the  Nile. 

The  daughter  of  Pharaoh,  who  had  come  to  the  river-side 
with  her  attendants,  to  bathe,  perceived  the  infant,  and,  touched 
with  pity,  saved  its  life,  and  having  had  it  conveyed  to  her 
palace,  adopted  it  as  her  son. 

This  infant  was  Moses. 

Brought  up  at  the  court  of  the  kings  of  Egypt,  even  to  the 
age  of  forty  years,  widiout  being  informed  of  his  origin,  lie  was^ 


XX3  THE   BIBLE    IN  INDIA. 

one  fine  clay,  constrained  to  fly  to  the  desert  for  killing  ai 
Egyptian  who  was  maltreating  a  Hebrew,  and  it  was  there  tha> 
God  came  to  reveal  to  him  his  destined  mission. 

I  ask,  even  of  the  most  prepossessed,  if  it  is  not  natural  and 
logical  to  conclude,  that  Moses,  brought  up  by  the  priests,  was 
initiated  by  them  in  the  pure  worship  and  the  learning  of  the 
DJgher  classes,  and  that  thence  came  his  enlightenment  ? 

And  afterwards,  when  expelled  from  the  palace  of  Pharaoh, 
ivhether  from  exposure  of  his  origin,  which  had  been  concealed 
Dy  the  princess  who  saved  him,  or,  as  he  himself  tells  us,  for 
aaving  killed  an  Egyptian,  would  not  resentment  and  the  desire 
of  vengeance  have  urged  him  to  seek  the  means  of  emancipat- 
mg  the  race  from  which  he  was  descended  ? 

Taking  advantage,  then,  of  one  of  those  terrible  famines 
which  ravage  Egypt  on  failure  of  the  fertalizing  inundations  of 
the  Nile,  or  of  one  of  those  destroying  scourges  of  plague  or 
typhus,  which  are  not  rare  in  those  countries,  he  presented  him- 
self before  the  reigning  prince  as  a  celestial  messenger,  and, 
attributing  those  afflictions  to  divine  wrath,  succeeded  in  extort- 
ing from  him  permission  to  withdraw  the  Hebrews  from  their 
unhappy  lot. 

I  would  rather  incline,  however,  to  consider  the  revolt  and 
flight  of  the  Hebrews  as  a  revolution,  long  prepared  by  Moses 
and  his  brother  Aaron,  who  seconded  all  his  projects,  and  which 
the  Egyptians  did  not  perceive  until  too  late  to  repress  it. 

As  to  the  destruction  of  Pharaoh  and  his  whole  army  in  the 
waters  of  the  Red  Sea,  I  consign  it,  together  with  the  passage 
of  the  fugitives  dry-shod  through  that  sea,  to  the  apocryphal  do 
main  of  miracle  and  invention. 

We  can  imagine  that  Moses,  who  wrote  all  these  things,  aftei 
the  fact,  having  described  himself  as  a  messenger  of  God,  de- 
sired to  surround  them  with  a  mysterious  halo,  very  favorable, 
withal,  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  mission. 

It  was  by  the  supernatural  and  the  wonderful,  that  all  his 
predecessors  had  imposed  themselves  upon  the  rude  and  super- 
stitious masses ;  and  Hke  the  clever  man  he  was,  his  aim  wat 


MOSES  AND   HEBREW  SOaETV.  II j 

to  invest  his  power  with  a  divine  prestige,  that  it  might  be  less 
questioned. 

Certainly  it  would  not  be  an  easy  task  to  conduct  through 
deserts,  in  search  of  a  fertile  soil  to  receive  and  nourish  them, 
these  undisciplined  hordes,  who,  slaves  yesterday,  free  to-day, 
would  submit  with  difficulty,  to  any  new  control  imposed  upon 
tliem. 

The  desert  was  immense,  where  to  go  nobody  knew,  and 
Moses,  no  more  than  others.  A  programme,  however,  was 
necessary  to  appease  the  murmurs  which  daily  became  more 
menacing.  "We  are  going  to  conquer  the  promised  land," 
proclaimed  Moses,  and  they  continued  their  march. 

Days,  months,  years  pass  away,  and  the  wandering  horde  is 
still  unable  to  escape  from  the  sands.  Now  they  go  forward, 
stamping  the  earth  with  rage,  then  they  retrace  their  steps ;  the 
outcasts  become  weary,  they  regret  the  land  of  Egypt,  and 
blaspheme  the  God  of  whom  Moses  had  made  himself  the  in- 
terpreter. They  remember  the  Ox  Apis,  wliich  they  had  for- 
merly seen  carried  in  procession  by  the  priests,  with  song  and 
dance  ;  they  make  one,  of  gold  or  of  brass,  with  the  bracelets 
of  the  women  and  the  bucklers  of  the  men,  and  they  worship 
*t,  beseeching  it  to  put  an  end  to  the  sufferings  they  had  no 
;Onger  the  courage  to  endure. 

And  Moses  was  invisible,  alone  in  his  tent ;  —  perhaps  he, 
too,  was  in  despair. 

All  at  once,  at  the  decline  of  the  day,  the  heavens  became 
darkened,  lightnings  flash  through  space,  and  the  thunder's 
voice  resounds. 

It  was  the  moment  to  act.  The  multitude  heard  with  terror 
the  manifestations  of  these  physical  phenomena  which  they 
could  not  understand.  Promptly  the  chief  appeared,  his  face 
expressive  of  inspiration ;  even  before  he  had  spoken,  respect 
and  submission  were  restored ;  he  broke  tlie  idols,  and,  with  a 
trumpet  voice,  announced  that  the  wrath  of  Heaver ,  to  punish 
their  murmurs  and  their  httle  faith,  condemned  them  still  tc 


XI4  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA, 

wander,  before  reaching  the  country  of  their  hopes.     And  they 
continued  to  wander.     It  was  time  gained. 

They  rame  at  last  to  a  mountain-top  from  which  they  per- 
ceived vast  plains  covered  with  verdure.  It  was  time ;  worn 
out  with  strife  and  fatigue,  arrived  at  the  term  of  his  existence, 
Moses  could  but  cry  aloud,  "  Behold  the  land  to  which  the  Lord 
commanded  me  to  conduct  you  ! "  He  stretched  forth  his  arms 
as  if  to  take  possession  —  and  he  died,  leaving  to  his  brother 
and  to  the  faithful  whom  he  had  prepared,  the  duty  of  complet- 
ing his  work. 

During  his  long  wanderings  he  had  written  a  book  of  the 
law,  in  which,  assigning  a  fabulous  past  to  this  people  of  yes- 
terday, and  inspired  by  the  traditions  and  sacred  books  which 
he  had  studied  in  Egypt,  he  revives  the  Hindoo  legends  on 
God  and  Creation,  institutes  priests  or  Levites,  prescribes  sac- 
rifices and  their  manner,  and,  in  a  few  civil  and  religious  laws, 
lays  the  foundation  of  the  new  society,  which  his  successors 
were  about  to  construct. 

It  is  thus  that,  stripped  of  prodigy  and  fable,  rejecting,  above 
all,  the  unworthy  role  assigned  by  Moses  to  the  Divinity  for  the 
success  of  his  projects,  I  admit  the  historic  tradition  of  the 
flight  of  the  Hebrews,  and  of  their  arrival  in  the  country  they 
were  to  conquer. 

Is  not  that,  moreover,  the  very  simple  legend  that  might 
apply  to  all  antique  emigrations,  to  the  cradle  of  all  ancient 
civilizations  ? 

Everywhere  you  find  a  legislator,  a  man  who  claims  to  be 
sent  from  God,  and  who  succeeds  in  uniting  and  controlling 
the  masses  by  the  double  prestige  of  his  genius  and  his  self- 
attributed  origin.  Thus  did  Manou,  Man^s,  Boudha,  and 
Zoroaster  impose  their  authority  and  establish  their  missions. 

Will  it  be  said  that  I  substitute  fable  for  fable  ?  No,  for  I  do 
but  take  the  most  salient  points  of  primitive  Hebrew  history, 
which,  alone,  as  appears  to  me,  ought  to  be  considered  authen- 
tic, repudiating  only  the  mysterious  and  the  revealed,  as  I 
repudiate  it  in  India,  in  Egypt,  in  Persia,  in  Greece,  and  a| 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIETY.  II5 

Rome;    claiming  no  right  to  admit  the  pontic  and   sacxed 
legends  of  one,  and  to  reject  those  of  another. 

What  constitutes  the  unimpeachable  force  of  my  reasoning 
is  this  unity,  this  identity  of  role  of  all  the  first  founders  of 
nations,  basing  their  ascendency  on  the  religious  idea ;  which, 
it  must  be  admitted,  is  that  which  takes  firmest  hold  of  the 
naive  intelligence  of  primitive  peoples.  Each  attributes  to 
God  his  book  of  the  law  —  each  legislates  for  religious  as  well 
as  for  civil  life.  All  divide  the  people  into  castes,  and  proclaim 
the  superiority  of  the  priest.  Lastly,  all,  whether  first  claiming 
incarnation,  or  simple  mission  from  God,  are  careful  to  envel- 
ope their  death,  as  well  as  their  birth,  in  mystery. 

India  is  ignorant  what  was  the  end  of  Manou. 

China,  Thibet,  and  Japan  translate  Boudha  to  heaven. 

Zoroaster  was  carried  off  by  a  ray  of  the  sun. 

And  Moses,  conveyed  by  an  angel  to  the  valley  of  Moab, 
disappeared  from  the  eyes  of  his  people,  who  knew  not  in  what 
comer  of  the  earth  reposed  his  remains ;  and  the  belief  pre- 
vails that  he  returned  to  God,  who  sent  him. 

This  is  all  that  sound  reason  can  say  about  Moses.  I  have 
said  that  the  role  attributed  to  God  by  this  legislator  was 
unworthy  of  the  majesty  and  grandeur  of  the  Supreme  Being. 
A  truth  which  will  be  sufficiently  established  by  reading  the 
titles  of  different  chapters  of  the  Bible. 

[Edition  of  Pere  de  Carri^res,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Those 
who  can  read  with  reverence,  or  without  disgust,  the  quotations 
of  the  author  from  the  Jesuits'  Bible,  will  find  them  nearly 
identical  in  our  own  Bible  —  Exodus,  chapters  vii.  to  xii.,  both 
inclusive.  While  we  (translator)  echo  the  aifthor's  peremp. 
tory.] 

Halte  lb.  /  The  heart  swells  with  disgust  and  indignation  at 
review  of  such  superstitions  and  such  turpitudes  ! 

Certainly,  if  I  had  not  long  time  since  abjured  all  partisan- 
ship, all  narrow  beliefs,  the  perusal  of  these  absurdities  would 
itself  suffice  to  lead  me  to  the  worship  of  pure  x  tason,  which 


Il6  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

gives  me  conceptions  of  the  divinity  at  once  so  simple  and  so 

sublime. 

Do  you  see  this  God  manifesting  his  power  by  invasions  of 
frogs  and  of  little  flies,  then  striking  a  whole  people  with  plague 
and  frightful  ulcers,  and  at  last  by  the  massacre  of  all  the  first- 
bom  of  each  family ! 

What  a  gradation  from  the  ridiculous  to  the  horrible  ! 

Ah  !  you  may  search  into  all  ancient  mythologies,  dive  into 
all  the  mysteries  of  the  Olympuses,  explore  the  most  obscure 
traditions  of  all  the  peoples,  and  I  defy  you  to  find  anything  so 
deplorable,  so  profoundly  demoralizing ;  and  I  dare  defiantly  to 
say,  that  if  obliged  to  choose  between  the  God  of  Moses  and  the 
Bull  Apis,  the  Bull  should  be  my  God  ! 

When  he  has  well  decimated  Egypt  by  all  sorts  of  scourges, 
Jehovah  crowns  his  work  by  a  revolting  slaughter  of  children. 
But,  it  is  not  yet  enough  \  he  commands  his  people  to  preserve 
an  eternal  souvenir  of  this  high  fact,  and  to  celebrate  its  anni- 
versary as  a  festival  with  ceremonies  and  songs. 

And  the  modem  spirit  still  feeds  upon  such  atroctcies  ! 

I  already  hear  sacerdotalism  denounce  me  as  a  madman  and 
blasphemer ! 

Who,  then,  is  the  madman?     Who  the  blasphemer? 

Who  makes  God  to  wallow  in  a  litter  of  blood ! 

Or,  who  refuses  to  see  a  butcher  in  the  omnipotent,  the  cm ' 
niscient,  and  the  perfect  ? 

This  fanatic  slave,  brought  up  on  charity  at  the  court  of 
Pharaoh,  must  have  been  well  aware  of  the  degradation  and 
stupidity  of  the  people  whom  he  had  emancipated,  to  have 
dared,  when,  after  the  fact,  writing  his  history  of  this  revolution, 
to  surround  it  with  these  ridiculous  horrors. 

This  is  really  of  Moses.  He  found  it  nowhere  to  copy.  When 
presently  showing  that  Biblical  traditions  are  but  falsified  and 
ill-executed  copies  from  the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindoos,  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  see  that  those  people,  far  from  maVing 
of  God  a  bugbear,  rejoiced  to  consider  benignity  and  pardon 
the  most  beautiful  attributes  of  His  power. 


If  OSES  AND  HEBREW  SOaSTV.  tX7 

It  was  indeed  a  people  of  parias  that  Moses  led  into  the 
desert  I 

But  yesterday,  still  subdued  to  the  yoke,  and  stupefied  by 
servitude,  they  but  saw  in  the  gods  of  Egypt  the  dark  spirits  of 
evil,  who  rejoiced  in  the  sufferings  and  lamentations  of  theii 
victims,  so  taught  by  theu  high  caste  rulers.  The  Hebrew  peo- 
ple became  free  without  comprehending  liberty;  and  Moses, 
the  better  to  control  them,  made  of  his  book  a  strange  com- 
pound of  pure  doctrines  and  base  superstitions,  of  feeble  recol- 
lections of  his  Vedic  studies  under  the  priests,  and  traditions 
of  the  vulgar  worship  of  the  Egyptians. 

To  sway  a  nation  always  ready  to  resume  its  old  beliefs  in 
tlte  bull  Apis,  and  the  Golden  Calf,  and  to  enforce  acceptance 
of  the  one  God  he  proclaimed,  it  was  necessary  to  assign  him 
the  same  role  as  the  gods  of  the  past. 

And  were  not  prodigy  and  terror  equally  necessary  to  the 
forward  impulsion  of  this  servile  horde,  whom  nothing  in  the 
piAst  united  as  a  nation,  unless  the  remembrance  of  common 
suffering  ? 

Moses  might  have  seen  the  difficulty  of  his  enterprise,  when, 
ot le  day,  in  the  country  of  Pharaoh,  seeing  two  Hebrews  quar- 
relling, he  said  to  the  aggressor  —  "  Why  do  you  thus  abuse 
your  brother  ?  " 

And  that  he  was  answered:  "Who  made  you  a  prince  and  a 
judge  over  us  ?  Would  you  kill  me,  as  you  killed  an  Egyptian 
yesterday?" 

From  this  moment,  he,  doubtless,  perceived  that  the  escape 
he  meditated  would  be  the  easiest  part  of  his  programme  to 
civilize  this  horde  of  outcasts,  slaves,  and  vagabonds. 

Only  thus  can  I  account  for  his  creation  of  the  destroyer 
Jehovah,  who  but  manifests  himself  by  rr  enace  and  vengeance 
— a  salutary  curb  imposed  upon  Hcense  and  murmuring  dis- 
content. 

But,  if  I  understand  it  as  a  means  at  the  d€but  of  a  nation^ 
originating  in  servile  insurrection,  I  understand  it  no  farther  nor 
can  admit  it  as  an  after  belief ;  enrolling  it  with  all  the  othei 


IXS  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

mythsy  all  the  other  bugbears  employed  by  the  fourjders  of  aa 
tique  societies. 

Let  us  hear  no  more,  then,  of  the  people  of  God ! 

In  surrounding  their  fabulous  origin  with  murders  and  rapine 
(for,  always  by  God's  command !  they  spoil  tlie  Egyptians  to 
the  ntmost,  by  borrowing  their  vessels  of  gold  and  vestments !) 
the  Hebrews  cannot  alter  the  judgment  I  have  expressed  of 
them,  as  nothing  else  than  revolted  parias.  Apart  from  the  ar- 
guments which  I  have  developed,  I  find  one  in  the  Bible  itself, 
which  I  may  call  irrefutable,  unless  in  these  studies  of  the  past, 
the  true  is  only  to  be  estimated  by  the  absurd. 

According  to  Jewish  chronology,  it  was  in  the  year  2298  that 
Jacob  went  to  establish  himself  in  Egypt,  with  his  whole  family 
of  seventy  persons,  sons,  grandsons,  and  great-grandsons. 

Then,  by  the  same  authority,  it  was  in  2513,  that  is,  two 
hundred  and  fifteen  years  after,  that  the  Hebrews  quit  Egypt  to 
the  number  of  six  hundred  thousand  men,  without  counting 
women  and  children,  which  should  make  a  nation  of  at  least  two 
millions  of  souls.* 

Is  it  possible  for  an  instant  to  maintain  that  within  this  short 
period,  and  maugre  the  hardships  to  which  they  were  subjected, 
the  descendants  of  Jacob  could  have  multiplied  at  this  rate,  and 
would  it  not  be  an  outrage  upon  common  sense  to  attempt  es» 
tabhshing  the  truth  of  this  legend  ? 

The  histories  of  the  patriarchs  and  of  Joseph  are  either  fi(> 
tions  invented  by  Moses,  or,  as  I  prefer  thinking,  old  Egyptian 
traditions,  picked  up  by  this  legislator  and  employed  by  him  to 
make  it  appear  that  the  providential  mission  of  the  Hebrews 
was  of  old  date,  and  that  their  ancestors  had  already  been  the 
chosen  of  the  Lord. 

I  ask  it,  in  entire  good  faith,  ought  not  a  free,  intelligent, 
historic  criticism  to  reject  this  mass  of  prodigies  and  monstrous 
superstitions,  which  encumber  the  origin  of  the  Hebrew  nation. 


•  600,000 /ighting  men ;  equal  to  a  population  of  3,000,000^ 


MOSES  AND  HKBREW  SOaETY.  XI9 

We  have  repudiated  Greek  and  Roman  mythologies  with 
disdain. 

\\'hy,  then,  admit  with  respect  the  mythology  of  the  Jews  ? 

Ought  the  miracles  of  Jehovah  to  impress  us  more  than  those 
of  Jupiter? 

Is  it  possible  to  discover  Supreme  Wisdom,  the  God  revealed 
to  us  by  conscience,  in  either  one  or  the  other  of  these  irascible 
sanguinary  beings,  prompt  to  vengeance,  the  bugbears  of  popu- 
lar credulity  ? 

And,  then,  what  is  this  r61e  of  pride  and  effrontery,  unique  in 
history  ? 

A  nation  boasts  itself  the  only  people  of  God,  exhibits  to  its 
neighbors  only  the  most  odious  examples  of  duplicity  and 
cruelty,  and  in  God's  name  exterminates  the  occupants  of  lands 
which  they  desire  to  seize  for  themselves ! 

But  yesterday  slaves  themselves,  will  they  abolish  slavery  in 
their  new  community  ?  No,  and  it  is  still  in  the  name  of  the 
divinity,  that  they  reduce  to  slavery  the  peoples  whom  they 
have  conquered ! 

I  know  no  people  of  the  past  so  consistent  in  hypocrisy,  or 
who  better  knew  how  to  sanctify  their  means  to  their  end. 

Let  not  that  surprise  us,  however.  At  the  head  of  this  the- 
ocracy established  by  Moses,  appears  the  priest,  the  Levite, 
faithful  to  the  ancient  priestly  role  of  subjugation,  by  demorali- 
zation;—  this  heir  of  Hindoo  Brahminism  continued,  as  in 
Egypt  and  in  Persia,  as  in  all  primitive  societies,  to  make  of 
the  Supreme  being  the  instrument  of  his  despotic  desires,  to 
utilize  the  religious  idea  for  subjection  of  the  credulous  to  the 
arbitrary  influence  of  his  caste. 

Wlien  we  shall  have  proven  by  examination  into  all  its  details, 
that  this  Hebrew  social  system,  was  also  but  a  copy  of  that  of 
Manou,  -will  it  not  be  evident,  that  Moses  could  only  have  been 
tile  heritor,  though  Man^s  the  Egy'ptian,  of  that  legislator,  and 
that,  like  his  civil  institutions,  his  Genesis  was  also  a  bequest 
from  ancient  India? 

Thanks  to  rcseaixhes  already  made  on  other  peoples  of  the 


I30  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

old  world,  we  may  say  that  this  opinion  is  no  longer  a  paradox  j 

it  is  but  the  logical  and  consistent  continuation  of  that 
great  movement  b>  emigrations  from  the  plateau  of  the  Hima- 
layas, whose  influence  extended  to  the  four  quarters  of  the 
globe,  and  from  which  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  the  IsraeHtes, 
issuing  from  Egypt,  could  not  escape. 

We  shall  establish  this  as  a  truth,  in  comparing  the  work  of 
the  Hebrew  with  that  of  the  Hindoo  legislator,  and,  the  ground 
thus  cleared,  we  may  without  fear  consider  the  world's  begin- 
ning, according  to  the  Vedas,  and  the  written  traditions  of  the 
Hindoos,  which  the  Bible  has  but  reproduced  with  very  slight 
modifications. 

One  word  more. 

It  appears  to  me  not  without  interest  to  collate  the  opinions 
with  which  reason  and  research  on  the  ancient  societies  of  the 
T^orld  inspire  me,  with  the  appreciation  by  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
of  this  tissue  of  cruelties  and  impostures. 

I  read  in  the  advertisement  at  the  head  of  the  book  of  Exodus 
by  the  Father  de  Carrieres : 


**  Thus  do  Christians  learn  from  this  great  Apostle  (St.  Paul)  to  rever- 
ence the  profound  judgments  of  God,  in  the  obstinacy  to  which  he  aban- 
doned Pharaoh,  and  to  admire  the  infinite  wisdom  with  which  he  made  the 
obduracy  of  that  prince  in  daring  to  resist  him,  subserve  the  manifestatioa 
of  his  glory  and  his  power." 

"  The  same  Apostle  further  teaches  them  to  consider  the  passage  of  the 
Red  Sea,  as  typical  of  their  baptism ;  the  manna  that  fell  from  heaven  as 
symbolic  of  the  Eucharist ;  the  rock  from  which  issued  the  water  that  fol- 
lowed the  Israelites  in  the  desert,  as  the  figure  of  Jesus  Christ  who  nour- 
ishes Christians  in  this  life,  and  follows  them  in  spirit  and  peace,  until  they 
have  reached  the  true  land  of  promise ;  Mount  Sinai  is  an  image  of  the 
earthly  Jerusalem.  The  law,  as  an  instructor,  which  could  not  teach  true 
justice,  but  which  led  to  Jesus  Christ  as  its  source ;  the  shining  glory  of  th« 
face  of  Moses,  as  an  image  of  that  of  the  Gospel.  The  veil  with  which  he 
hid  himself,  as  a  figure  of  the  blindness  of  the  Jews.  The  tabernacle,  a 
type  of  the  celestial  sanctuary ;  the  blood  of  victims  as  pre-figuring  that  of 
Jesas  Christ." 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIETY.  Ifll 

Thus,  it  is  always  for  the  greater  glory  of  God,  according  to 
oui  modem  Levities,  that  Egypt  was  decimated  by  all  sorts  of 
scourges,  plague,  and  slaughter  ! 

No  doubt  the  sanguinary  mediaeval  hecatombs  and  faggots 
were  equally  for  the  manifestation  of  celestial  power ;  and  tha 
Vandois,  and  the  victims  of  St.  Bartholomew  were  pre-figured 
by  the  obdurate  Egyptians  ! 

What  aberration?   what  perversion  of  all  moral  intelligence  1 
It  is  profoundly  painful  to  think  that  we  are  still  obliged  to  dis- 
cuss such  superstitions,  and  that  four  or  five  thousand  years  of 
ruin  have  not  led  the  peoples  into  the  way  of  free  thought  and 
religious  independence ! 

Let  us  courageously  tear  away  their  mask,  and  show  to  all 
that  they  are  only  the  work  of  human  weakness  and  human 
passions. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

liOSES     FOUNDS    HEBREW   SOCIETY     ON  THE   MODEL   OF    THOSE 
OF    EGYPT  AND   OF   INDIA. 

In  laying  the  foundation  of  his  religious  and  political  instil%r 
Hons,  Moses  did  not  escape  that  influence  which  we  have  cU- 
Bcribed  as  pervading  the  ancient  world. 

Having  led  this  horde  of  outcasts  into  the  desert,  follower 
U 


123  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

according  to  the  Bible,  by  a  mixed  multitude,  it  became  neces 
sary  to  discipline  and  give  them  laws,  and  accustom  them  tfl 
regular  habits.  The  caste  idea  was  too  deeply  rooted  in  theii 
usages  to  be  ignored,  and  it  accordingly  prevailed  in  the  con- 
stitution of  the  new  Government,  which  was  nothing  else  than 
an  exact  reproduction  of  Hindoo  Brahminism. 

Instead  of  four,  there  were  twelve  castes,  of  which  the  first 
was,  as  always,  that  of  the  priest,  charged  with  all  the  functions, 
civil  and  religious,  of  the  nation,  interpreter  of  the  word  of  God, 
guardian  of  the  temples,  alone  permitted  to  sacrifice,  sole  judge 
of  the  sins  of  conscience,  and  of  crimes  committed  against 
society. 

For  supreme  head,  this  theocracy  had  a  high  priest,  a  potent 
and  mysterious  authority,  that  none  might  resist,  whose  word 
was  law,  both  in  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal,  and  who  was 
only  subject  to  the  judgment  of  God. 

It  is  the  ideal  of  which  Ultramontanism  dreams  to-day,  the 
authority  it  would  establish  for  the  benefit  of  popes,  by  reducing 
modern  societies  to  mere  corporations,  whose  every  thought 
and  will  should  find  at  Rome,  its  law  and  its  sovereign  inspira- 
tion. 

Will  it  be  said  that  the  Hebrew  tribes  were  not  castes,  and 
that  these  were  the  natural  divisions  of  their  origin  and  descent 
from  the  sons  of  Jacob  ? 

This  fiUation  is  to  me  but  an  ingenious  fiction  by  Moses,  to 
enforce  the  divisions  he  established,  as  created  by  God  himself, 
and  against  which  the  people  would  without  doubt  have  mur- 
mured. Was  it  not,  moreover,  necessary  thus  to  introduce 
imitations  of  a  past,  that  reminded  the  Hebrews  of  their  sufier- 
ings  under  Egyptian  despotism,  that  nevertheless,  no  man 
should  be  tempted  to  change  his  tribe  ? 

No  sooner  free  than,  always  with  the  same  design,  the  He- 
brew legislator  surrounds  himself  with  initiated  associates  in  his 
projects  and  his  ambition,  consecrates  them  priests,  and  places 
them  under  Divine  protection,  that  the  people  may  not  be 
tempted  to  question  the  legitimacy  of  their  autiiority. 


MOSES   AND   HEBREW   SOCIETY.  1 23 

These  exclusive  tribes  or  castes,  like  those  of  Egypt  and 
India,  were  doubtless  adopted  by  Moses,  to  establish  forever 
the  supremacy  of  the  Levite,  and  for  the  preservation  of  this 
family  from  all  intermarriage  with  the  other  tribes. 

At  an  epoch  when  all  peoples  had  adopted  the  principle  ol 
government  by  the  priest,  what  more  simple  than  that  Moses 
sliould  confine  himself  to  copying,  with  modifications,  the  con 
stitntion  of  Hindoo  emigrations  and  colonizations,  honored  in 
Egypt  and  throughout  Asia  ? 

All  this  needs  not  the  explanation  of  a  Divine  Mission,  and 
belief  in  the  fables  and  prodigies  employed  by  the  Hebrew 
legislator  more  easily  to  control  the  turbulent  and  heterogen- 
eous horde  under  his  command.  Murmurs,  disobedience,  re- 
volts were  so  frequent,  that  we  ask  how  he  could  possibly  have 
succeeded,  had  he  not  skilfully  invented  this  God,  always  in 
the  breach,  slaughtering  blasphemers  and  mutineers,  and  terrify- 
ing tiie  mob  by  his  atrocities  of  vengeance  ?  Was  it  not  in  the 
name  of  Jehovah  that  twenty-three  thousand  Israelites  were 
massacred  by  tlie  tribe  of  Levi,  that  is,  by  the  priests,  after  the 
schism  of  the  golden  calf?  Whatever  the  energy  of  Moses, 
admitting  these  frightful  scenes  of  carnage,  they  must  have 
ended  in  his  own  death  had  he  not  divided  the  people  into 
difterent  classes,  and  above  all,  fanaticized  the  class  of  priests, 
who  were  of  his  tribe,  and  his  most  ardent  supporters.  For 
my  own  part,  I  can  see  no  difference  between  Brahminism  and 
Levitism,  and  everythmg  seems  to  proclaim  the  one  descended 
from  the  other. 

In  connecting  these  two  civilizations  by  their  usages,  we 
shall  presently  have  occasion  to  show  that  the  filiation  is  not 
imaginary,  not  merely  a  resemblance  of  institutions. 

To  Moses  is  assigned  the  honor  of  having  been  the  first  to 
establish,  without  obscurity,  the  grand  idea  of  the  Unity  of  God, 
which  the  nations,  his  contemporaries,  do  not,  at  least  in  the  his- 
toric traditions  of  the  epoch,  appear  to  have  as  perfecdy  corv 
ceived.  This  opinion  is  an  eiTor  which  we  shall  have  little 
trouble  in  refuting,  although  it  has  been  consecrated  by  time 


124^  THE  BIBLE   IN  INDIA.  ,> 

and  the  Christian  dogma,  which,  in  accepting  the  Hebrew  sue 
cession,  would  naturally  adopt  and  propagate  it  with  ardor. 

Moses,  initiated  by  his  sacerdotal  education  in  Egypt,  in  the 
splendors  of  Hindoo  deism,  instead  of  constructing  for  the 
Hebrews  a  worship  based  on  the  superstitions  to  which  the 
Egjrptian  priests,  with  an  obvious  object,  had  habituated  the 
lower  castes,  was  the  first  to  reveal  to  them  the  mysteries  of 
initiation  based  upon  the  Unity  of  God,  and  the  traditions  of 
Creation,  exclusively  reserved  by  India  and  by  Egypt,  for  the 
privileged  castes  of  Brahmins  and  of  hierophants. 

But  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  even  in  revealing  to  the 
masses  these  sublime  notions  on  the  Unity  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  he  did  not  dare  to  present  them  in  all  their  purity  to 
this  people,  born  of  servitude,  void  of  intelligence,  and  not 
sufficiently  free  of  the  past  to  permit  separation  for  them,  of  the 
idea  of  God  —  creator,  almighty,  and  benevolent,  firora  all 
accessory  ideas  of  cruel  vengeance  and  terrible  chastisements. 

Hence  it  was  that  Moses  dared  not  make  his  Jehovah  pre- 
side over  the  worlds  with  that  aspect,  serene  and  calm,  of  the 
Hindoo  sacred  books,  which  so  well  becomes  Majesty  divine. 

If  on  one  side  he  had  the  merit,  beyond  his  precursors, 
of  daring  in  face  of  the  nation,  to  proclaim  the  unity  of 
God,  and  to  prescribe  the  superstitions  which  Manou  and 
Manes  thought  good  enough  for  the  people;  on  the  other, 
making  a  retrograde  step,  he  was  forced,  for  the  security  of 
his  power,  and  of  the  institutions  he  was  founding,  to  make 
of  that  God  a  cruel  being,  fit  to  inspire  terror  and  to  command 
blind  obedience. 

The  crowd  of  terrors  and  terrible  manifestations,  which 
ethers  had  infinitely  divided  by  multipHcity  of  idols,  Moses 
made  to  emanate  from  one  alone;  and  his  worship  was 
neither  less  sombre,  nor  less  sanguinary,  than  that  of  others 
Is  it  not  Jehovah  who  commands  all  the  massacres  of  the 
Bible,  all  the  hecatombs  of  idolatrous  nations,  for  the  glorifi- 
cation of  his  name,  and  to  clear  the  way  for  the  quondam 
slaves  of  Egypt? 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIETY.  19$ 

Respect  for  the  horrible  must  be  rivetted  in  the  ooul,— 
love  of  the  stupid  struggle  of  intolerance,  deeply  rooted^  to 
see  in  Moses  aught  else  than  a  rude  prejector,  whose  chief 
allies  were  fire  and  sword,  and  in  Jehovah  aught  else  than  a 
bugbear,  a  means  of  domination,  placed  at  the  service  of 
a  Sacerdotal  oligarchy. 

In  short  the  government  establishad  by  Moses  was  theo- 
cratic under  the  sovereign  impulsion  of  the  priests.  The 
divisions  of  tribes  which  he  ordained  were  castes  designed 
to  maintain  the  people  in  a  state  of  stability  suitable 
to  assure  success  to  the  new  power  and  new  institu- 
tions. And  we  may,  therefore,  say  that  the  Hebrews  were, 
neither  by  their  beliefs  nor  by  their  social  state,  an  excep- 
tion to  tlie  rule  which  pervaded  all  the  peoples  of  anti- 
quity. 

Some  take  their  stand  on  the  sublimity  of  the  Decalogue, 
to  invest  the  Hebrews  with  a  halo  of  morality,  which  the> 
deny  their  contemporaries. 

The  Decalogue  commands  to  honor  father  and  motlier, 
not  to  kill,  not  to  commit  adultery,  not  to  steal,  not  to  bear 
false  witness  against  neighbors,  and,  lastly,  to  covet  nothing 
that  belongs  to  another. 

These  principles  do  not  date  from  Mount  Sinai ;  they  are 
anterior  to  the  Hebrews,  and  to  all  the  civilizations  that 
preceded  them ;  and  when  Moses  came  to  reveal  them  to  the 
people  on  the  mountain,  conscience  had  of  itself  long  made 
them  known  to  all  honest  men.  This  Decalogue,  proclaimed 
with  so  much  pomp  to  the  Hebrews  midst  thunders  and 
sounds  of  trumpets,  appears  to  me,  moreover,  a  very  bitter 
sarcasm.  To  read  the  Bible  suffices  to  show  that  few  people 
were  more  corrupt,  few  practiced  more  duplicity  in  their 
relations  with  their  neighbors,  and  that,  lastly,  few  had  less 
respect  for  the  property  of  others. 

They  pick  the  pockets  of  Egypt  before  leaving  it,  travers<» 
the  desert,  continue  their  brigandage,  thei;  violent  spolia 
tions  on  each  new  soil    they  tread,   until    exhausting    the 


126  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

patience  of  peoples,  they  are  vigorously  chastised  and  igaiD 
reduced  to  servitude. 

Malgre  Moses  and  his  successors,  the  parias  remained 
parias;  it  was  impossible  to  convert  these  quondam  slaves 
of  Pharaoh  into  a  respectable  people  attached  to  the  soil 
and  inclined  to  work.  Vagrants  they  began,  and  vagrants 
continued,  despite  their  encampment  in  Palestine,  and  the 
nations,  their  neighbors,  appear  to  have  united,  by  com- 
mon consent,  to  chastise  and  repulse  their  ever-recurring 
aggressions. 

It  is  a  totally  different  society  from  this  that  will  present 
itself  to  us  in  the  India  of  the  Vedas,  in  the  India  of  primi- 
tive, sacred  traditions;  and  if  the  vulgar  verities  of  the 
Decalogue  are  admired,  with  what  sentiment  shall  we  view 
those  grand  philosophic  and  moral  principles  which  the  Chris- 
tian reformer  came  afterwards  to  revive  to  a  world  that  had 
forgotten  them ! 

That  Moses  knew  them,  studied  them,  doubtless,  in  his 
youth,  seems  proven  by  his  avowal  of  the  unity  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  as  well  as  by  his  Genesis,  which  is  but  an 
echo  of  the  Hindoo  Genesis.  And  if  he  was  incompetent 
to  his  task  of  regeneration,  if  he  adopted  Brahminism  rather 
than  Vedism,  perhaps  we  ought  to  attribute  it  to  the  de- 
graded moral  condition  of  the  Hebrews  in  Egypt,  whom 
independence  had  not  changed,  and  which  perhaps  forced 
the  legislature  to  govern,  as  we  have  said,  by  superstition  and 
fear  of  the  vengeance  of  a  pitiless  God. 

With  a  different  people  to  handle,  possibly  he  might  have 
constructed  in  Judea  a  society  comparable  with  that  of  the 
best  times  of  Greece. 

It  was  perhaps  not  the  man,  therefore,  that  was  incom* 
petent,  but  the  people,  who  wanted  intelligence  to  under- 
btand  him. 

This  seems  so  true,  I  believe  so  firmly,  that  the  reform  of 
Moses  might  have  taken  another  stamp  with  a  people  less 
stupefied  by  servitude,  that  manifestly,  the  God  of  Genesis^ 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIETT.  Xtf 

the  God  of  early  Biblical  action,  does  not  resemble  the 
jealous  Jehovah,  athirst  for  human  sacrifice,  of  Exodus  anc^ 
following  books. 

We  should  say  that  as  mumurs  and  opposition  became 
more  frequent  in  the  desert,  Moses  felt  the  necessity  of 
giving  to  the  Divinity  a  more  threatening  aspect,  to  control 
and  calm  this  horde,  with  whom  the  language  of  reason  was 
powerless. 

\\Tiat  would  the  God  of  the  Vedas  have  done  here,  with 
his  inexhaustible  forbearance  and  forgiveness?  This  con- 
gregation of  slaves  and  vagabonds  would  have  banished 
him.  They  required  an  iron-handed  God,  to  chastise  —  to 
exterminate  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  men  for  an  impre- 
cation, a  blasphemy,  or  a  prayer  to  the  Golden  Calf 

And  this  is  why  Moses  abandoned  the  Vedas,  after  Genesis, 
to  devote  himself,  heart  and  soul,  to  Brahminism,  that  is  to 
domination  by  the  priest  and  for  the  priest. 

To  some,  doubtless,  these  opinions  will  appear  very  strange, 
for  certainly  our  education  of  nineteen  centuries  does  not 
predispose  us  either  to  exercise  freedom  of  thought  or  to 
suffer  freedom  of  speech  ! 

Obliged,  as  we  are,  on  one  side  to  admit  certain  religious 
fictions  which  we  may  not  discuss,  and  on  the  other  to 
reject,  on  no  better  grounds,  other  religious  fictions,  which 
we  may  but  discuss,  to  deny.  What  can  result  from  such  a 
situation  ? 

Truth  here,  /. ^. ,with  us — error  there,  2.^.,  with  others: 
Buch  is  the  rule  of  all  parties,  the  system  of  all  communions* 

I  perfectly  understand  that  a  free-thinker  who  has  the 
courage  to  say,  "  I  come  to  prove  to  you  that  all  supersti- 
tions, like  all  despotisms,  have  a  common  origin,  and  to 
indicate  the  fabric  to  be  demoHshed,  that  you  may  con- 
struct a  future  from  lesions  of  the  past;  I  come  to  show 
you  that  there  can  be  no  possible  composition  with  certain 
things  in  face  of  the  ruin  they  have  produced; "  this  would-be 
pioneer,  I  perfectly  understand,  may  be  reviled  and  execrated 


128  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

like  all  those  whose  courageous  course  he  follows,  and  whost 
works  were  cast  into  the  fire,  it  being  no  longer  permitted  s« 
to  dispose  of  persons, 


CHAPTER  V. 


HEBREW  PENAL  SYSTEM. 


The  penal  system  inaugurated  by  Moses  was  not  exactly  that 
of  Egypt  or  of  India;  but  the  difFerecces  we  discover,  far  from 
affecting  the  origin  which  we  have  assigned  the  Israelites, 
strikingly  prove  that  very  origin. 

Moses,  like  his  predecessors,  as  means  of  repression  and  ex* 
piation,  ordains  — 

Death, 

The  bastonade, 

Fine, 

And  purification  by  sacnfice. 

But  he  rejected  all  exclusion,  partial  and  complete,  from 
aibe  or  caste.  A  penalty  which  we  have  seen  had  been 
adopted  by  Persia,  Greece,  and  Rome,  and  which,  with  the 
3aws  of  Justinian,  passed  afterwards  into  modern  codes,  undei 
the  name  of  civil  death. 

This  refusal  of  Judaism  to  permit  the  interdiction  of  water 
and  fire  to  great  criminals  although  so  consistent  with  Eastert 
nsage,  is  an  exception  which  logically  explains  itselfl 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIETY.  12^ 

There  is  in  this  neither  progress  nor  dream  of  humanity,  for 
exclusion  from  caste  or  tribe  would  certainly  have  been  better 
than  the  massacre  of  the  twenty  thousand  Israelites,  guilty  only 
of  having  flirted  with  the  daughters  of  Moab.  And  it  needs 
but  to  read  the  Bible  to  see  that  it  is  full  of  hecatombs  and 
human  sacrifices,  and  the  book  itself  is  written  with  blood. 

We  cannot,  then,  here  see  any  softening  of  ancient  man- 
ners. 

The  thought  that  guided  Moses,  is  too  simple  not  to  be  true, 
and  we  may  say,  it  was  imperative  on  the  situation. 

If  the  Hebrew  people,  as  we  have  shown,  consisted  of  the 
refuse  of  Egypt's  criminal  castes,  if  they  were  the  parias  of 
society  under  the  Pharaohs,  it  became  a  necessity  that  Moses 
should  not  create  parias  in  Hebrew  society. 

First,  it  was  necessary  that  the  new  people  should  not  be 
allowed  to  perceive  a  possibility  that  under  any  circumstances 
they  could  return  to  the  miserable  condition  from  which  they 
had  just  escaped. 

Then  there  was  a  reason  of  state,  doubtless  perceived  by 
Moses,  which  was,  not  to  create,  by  this  caste  exclusion,  a 
nation  within  a  nation,  which  gradually  increasing  might  in 
time  become  a  social  danger. 

The  Egyptians  had  tried  to  arrest  Israelite  development  by 
massacres  and  hardship :  it  was  a  wise  policy  to  foresee  that 
the  same  cause  might  some  day  enforce  the  same  measures, 
from  fear  of  servile  revolution.  The  adoption,  then,  of  this 
ancient  penalty,  tending  infallibly  to  threaten  the  future  with 
ferment  and  decomposition,  Moses  preferred  the  massacre  en 
nasse  of  all  great  criminals.  Thus  did  they  free  themselves 
from  those  who  denied  Jehovah,  as  from  those  who  murmured 
against  the  authority  of  the  legislator,  and  the  priests  his  suc- 
cessors. 

For  offences  of  minor  importance,  not  essentially  affecting 
the  theoretic  constitution  of  the  Government,  the  lex  talionis 
was  established  ;  an  eye  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,  kc  — 
Vide  Exodus,  Chap.  xxi.  24,  25. 


150  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

Hail !  this  ^rj/ appearance  in  ancient  societies  of  the  barbar- 
ous  lex  talionis  I 

What  theocratic  India  and  Egypt  were  incapable  of  invent 
ing ;  what  Manou,  Boudha,  Zoroaster,  and  Manes,  would  have 
repelled  with  horror,  it  remained  for  Judaism  and  Jehovah  to 
afford  us. 

This  was  no  imitation,  and  Moses  may  claim  the  lex  talionisy 
as  an  original  flower  in  his  chaplet  of  legislator  ! 

This  penalty  afterv;ards  appears  at  the  debut  of  many  nations, 
but  only  in  their  primitive  barbarous  customs  ;  no  people  but 
Israel,  dared  preserve  it  in  their  written  laws. 

The  more  we  advance,  the  more  shall  we  have  occasion  to 
repeat,  that  if  Judea  modified  anything  in  the  civihzation 
bequeathed  by  India  and  Egypt,  it  was  but  in  the  way  of  return 
to  the  barbarism  and  cruelty  of  early  ages,  when  Nomad-Man, 
recognized  no  right  but  that  of  force. 

"  Leave  the  land  to  me,  or  I  slay  thee,"  says  Cain  to 
Abel. 

"  Submissive  obedience  to  the  Word  of  God,  or  death,"  says 
Moses  to  the  Hebrews ;  who,  ii^  their  turn,  say  to  the  neigh- 
boring peoples,  "Deliver  up  your  wealth,  your  virgin 
daughters,  and  your  houses,  or  you  shall  be  destroyed  with  fire 
and  sword." 

I  connot  forego  a  few  lines,  in  detail,  of  all  the  massacres 
and  all  the  bloodshed  accomplished  under  the  orders  ol 
Jehovah,  whether  by  Moses  and  his  successors  upon  the 
Israelites  themselves,  or  by  them  upon  the  peoples  whom  they 
desired  to  despoil 

It  will  be  no  digression  from  my  subject,  for  apart  from  the 
high  moral  and  religious  instruction  it  will  afibrd,  I  shall  thence 
also  derive  a  triumphant  argument  against  those  who  will  not 
fail  to  deny  the  authority  of  the  Hindoo  sacred  books  —  to  rep- 
resent them  as  copied  from  the  Bible. 

The  sublime  traditions  on  the  Unity  of  God,  the  Trinity 
Creation,  original  transgression,  and  redemption,  produced  in 
India,  a  high  philosophic  and  moral  civilization. 


MOSES  AND   HEBREW  SOCIETY,  IJI 

The  copy  of  these  traditions,  which  were  not  indigenous  on 
Hebrew  soil,  could  not  regenerate  a  people,  who,  begotten  of 
rapine  and  murder,  only  knew  how  to  live  by  murder  and 
rapine. 

The  first  chapters  of  the  Hebrew  Genesis  are  out  of  place  in 
this  book,  which  is  but  an  audacious  panegyric  upon  violence 
and  destruction.  We  must  restore  these  chapters  to  the 
Vedas,  to  which  they  belong. 

Let  all  old  superstitions  cry  Anathema;  such  are  still  my 
opinions. 

And  here  are  my  proofs. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

BALANCE-SHEET  OF  THE  BIBLE.  — CHASTISEMENTS,  MASSACRES^ 
DESTRUCTIONS. 

While  occupied  with  Moses,  no  page  has  passed  without 
expressions  of  our  indignation  at  the  sombre  fanaticism  and 
cruel  doctrines  of  this  book,  this  Bible,  before  which  the  masses 
bend  the  knee  without  examination  or  comprehension,  which  is 
to  many  the  supreme  law,  the  work  of  supreme  wisdom,  but 
which  is  to  us  but  a  code  of  truculent  superstitions. 

Come,  let  us  cast  aside  that  derogatory  vulgar  admiration 
inculcated  to  us  on  oar  knees,  let  us  look  into  ourselves,  let  ui 


133  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

rely  upon  that  inner  good  sense  which  is  the  voice  of  coifc 
science ;  then  read  and  judge. 


Jehovah,  to  facilitate  the  escape  of  the  Hebrews,  finds  no  better  mean* 
than  to  destroy  all  the  first-bom  of  the  Egyptians,  that  is,  to  strike  the 
innocent. 

The  Hebrews,  in  fljdng,  spoil  the  Egyptians,  by  borrowing  all  the 
vessels  of  gold  and  rich  clothing  they  could  carry  away. 

Jehovah  commands  the  Hebrews  to  return  and  tempt  Pharaoh  to  follow, 
that  He  may  destroy  him  with  all  his  army.  (Needless  and  cruel  vengeance, 
since  the  Hebrews  were  beyond  danger.) 

The  Israelites,  dying  of  famine  in  the  desert,  Jehovah  sends  them  quails 
and  manna. 

Furious  at  the  worship  of  the  Golden  Calf,  Jehovah  would  destroy 
all  the  Israelites :  Moses  intercedes,  and  prays  him  to  be  content  with 
the  twenty-three  thousand  whom  he  has  had  slaughtered  by  the  priests. 
After  this  feat  of  arms  God  consents  to  help  the  Hebrews.  (Only,  I 
imagine,  in  the  theogonies  of  cannibals,  could  we  meet  with  such 
atrocities. ) 

Jehovah  warns  the  Hebrews,  that  if  they  again  force  him  to  manifest 
himself,  he  will  exterminate  them. 

Moses  desires  to  see  Jehovah's  face,  who  replies  that  he  only  can  show 
him  his  hinder  parts.  **  Videdis  posterior  a  mea.'*''  (What  humiliating 
absurdities  ! ) 

Nadab  and  Abihu  are  put  to  death  for  offering  sacrifice  with  strange 
fire. 

Who  kills  an  ox,  a  sheep  or  a  goat,  designed  for  consecration  to  th* 
Lord,  is  punished  with  death. 

Who  consecrates  his  children  to  idols  suffers  death. 

The  Israelites,  fatigued,  murmur  against  the  Lord ;  he  sends  against  them 
fire,  v/hich  destroys  many, 

Jehovah  a  second  time  sends  quails  to  the  Israelites;  but  he  sends  death 
to  all  those  who  eat  abundantly. 

Mary,  sister  of  Aaron,  having  murmured  against  Moses,  God  strikes  her 
with  leprosy 

The  Hebrews,  naving  again  murmured,  he  condemns  them  to  die  in  the 
desert,  from  twenty  years  old  and  upwards. 

Cora,  Dathan,  and  Abiram,  having  revolted  with  a  part  of  the  people 
against  Moses,   Jehovah  commands  fire  out    of   the   earth  to  destroy 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIETY.  IJJ 

Fresh  munniirs  of  the  people ;  the  same  fire  destroys  fourteen  thousand 

■even  hundred  persons. 

The  Hebrews,  having  again  blasphemed  against  Jehovah,  he  sends 
against  them  a  fiery  serpent,  that  destroys  many. 

The  Israelites,  by  order  of  God,  destroy  the  Canaanites  and  the  Am* 
orites ;  they  cut  in  pieces  Og,  king  of  Baashan,  and  all  his  people,  witli- 
out  allowing  one  to  escape,  and  establish  themselves  on  the  conquered 
soil. 

Twenty-four  thousand  Israelites  are  massacred  by  the  priests  for  com- 
merce with  the  daughters  of  Moab. 

Jehovah  commands  Moses  to  punish  the  Midianites;  twelve  thousand 
Israelites  march  against  them.  AU  the  men  are  put  to  the  sword,  the 
kings  slain,  and  the  women  led  into  captivity. 

Moses  is  wroth  that  all  the  Midianite  women  have  been  spared ;  he  has 
them  all  slain  with  all  the  male  children,  commanding  them  to  preserve  only 
the  virgins.  *'  Puellas  autem^  et  omnes  feminas  virgines  reservail 
vobis. " 


Needless  to  prolong  these  citations.  Can  the  whole  history 
of  these  early  Hebrew  times  show  us  anything  else  than  ruins, 
slaughter,  and  degradiuj^  superstitions? 

Is  there  a  people  of  similar  history  that  has  dared  to  place 
it  under  protection  of  the  Supreme  Being  ? 

In  admitting  all  these  massacres  to  have  taken  place,  we 
can  only  attribute  them  to  the  fanaticism  of  Moses,  who 
required  his  priests  to  kill  whoever  ventured  to  mtumur 
against  his  authority,  or  that  of  the  God  he  imposed  upon 
them. 

Perhaps,  too,  the  desert,  affording  insufficient  noiurishment 
for  the  whole  people,  the  dictator  resolved  on  decimating  them, 
to  prevent  scenes  of  more  violent  carnage  which  famine  could 
not  fail  to  provoke. 

However  it  be,  this  people  and  their  epoch  are  judged  for 
ns ;  the  history  of  the  past  nowhere  exhibits  greater  proofs  of 
the  weaknesses  and  the  perversions  of  humanity. 

There  are  people  who  see  in  these  massacres,  respecting 
neither  children  nor  women,  except  the  virgins,  a  manifestation 
of  God's  power.  We  prefer  to  see  a  manifestation  c"  *lje  spirit 
U 


134  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

of  evil,  ruling  with  undivided  sway  over  these  barbarous  and 
andisciplined  hordes,  wh-j,  from  their  quitting  Egypt,  could  but 
mark  their  passage  with  rapine,  pillage  and  slaughter. 

No,  we  shall  not  go  to  these  people  in  search  of  the  oiigin 
of  our  beliefs  and  of  our  philosophic  and  religious  traditions, 
and  It  is  not  from  this  book,  tlie  Bible,  that  will  emanate  the, 
new  faith  of  modern  nations. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SCMK    SPECIAL  EXAMPLES   OF   INFLUENCE,  THROUGH   EGYPT,  ON 
HEBREW   SOCIETY. 

The  manners  and  customs  of  Judea  so  strongly  recall  those 
of  India,  as  of  themselves  to  remove  all  doubt  that  might 
remain  as  to  the  colonization  of  the  ancient  world  by  emigra- 
tions from  Hindostan. 

We  have  seen  the  great  cnaracteristics  of  that  old  civiUzation 
pervade  Egypt,  Persia,  Greece,  and  Rome.  Judea  is  now 
about  to  exhibit  the  same  influence,  even  in  the  most  minute 
details  of  its  social  organization. 

There  needs  no  careful  selection  from  the  many  points  of 
contact  and  striking  resemblances,  that  justify  our  still  more 
confident  assertion  of  that  unity  of  origin  of  all  the  peoples  of 
antiquity,  which  we  have  propounded  from  our  nrst  pages,  as 
almost  an  axiom. 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW    SOCIETY.  I3J 

Marriage  of  Hebrew  and  Hindoo  widows : 
We  read  in  Biblical  Genesis  : 


Juda  took  for  Her,  his  first-bom  son,  a  wife  named  Thamar.  Her  wai 
wicked  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  slew  him. 

*•  Juda  then  said  to  Onan,  his  second  son,  marry  Thamar,  thy  brother*! 
wife,  and  raise  up  seed  unto  thy  brother. 

••  But  Onan,  knowing  that  the  children  would  not  be  his,  but  be  ac> 
counted  his  brother's  —  semen  fundebat  in  terram," 

Again  we  read  in  the  book  of  Ruth : 

"  Boaz  said :  I  take  Ruth,  the  Moabitess,  wife  of  Mahlon,  to  be  my 
wife,  to  raise  up  the  name  of  the  dead  in  his  inheritance,  that  his  name  b« 
not  lost  in  his  family,  among  his  brethren,  and  among  his  people." 

Many  other  passages  of  the  Bible  show  that  it  was  a  law,  that 
the  nearest  relative  of  a  man  dying  without  issue  should  marry 
the  mdow,  their  progeny  being  considered  children  of  the 
defunct,  and  dividing  his  inheritance. 

"Whence  this  custom,  and  what  the  rationale  of  the  obligation 
imposed  by  the  legislator  ?  We  have  searched  all  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament  in  vain ;  they  throw  no  light  on  the 
subject.  Most  commentators,  accepting  the  motive  assigned 
by  Boaz  for  his  marriage  with  Ruth,  believe  that  the  union  of 
the  widow  with  the  brother  or  relation  of  her  deceased  hus- 
band, had,  in  fact,  no  other  object  than  to  continue  the  race 
of  the  latter. 

This  conclusion  is  not  satisfactory.  Was  the  interest  of  a 
particular  man,  no  longer  in  existence,  of  such  importance, 
that  a  brother,  or,  in  his  default,  a  relative,  should  be  required 
for  his  sake  'o  forego  his  o-wn  name  and  race  ? 

Ought  not  the  brother  or  relative  equally  to  desire  progeny  ? 
Wherefore,  then,  compel  them  to  marriage,  which,  in  continue 
ing  the  family  of  another,  must  terminate  their  own  ? 

This  custom,  of  which  Judaism  can  give  us  nc  ca^lanatior^ 


1$6  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

had  its  origin  in  the  religious  beliefs  of  the  Hindoos,  introduced 
into  Egypt  by  emigration,  and  was  adopted  by  the  Hebrews^ 
probably  in  ignorance  of  its  purport. 

Among  Hindoos,  a  father  can  only  attain  the  abodes  of  the 
blessed  through  expiatory  sacrifices  and  funereal  ceremonies, 
performed  by  his  son,  on  his  tomb,  and  renewed  on  each  anni- 
versary of  his  death.  These  sacrifices  remove  the  last  stains 
which  prevent  the  soul's  re-absorption  into  the  Divine  Essence, 
the  supreme  felicity  provided  for  the  just. 

It  is,  therefore,  a  first  necessity  that  every  man  should  have 
a  son  who  may  open  to  him  the  gates  of  the  immortal  abode 
of  Brahma ;  and  it  is  for  this  that  religion  makes  its  appeal  to 
the  devotion  of  brother  or  kinsman,  stigmatizing  as  infamous 
the  refusal  to  perform  so  sacred  a  duty. 

With  the  Hebrews,  all  the  sons  of  the  widow  belong  to  the 
dead  husband,  which  is  absurd,  seeing  that,  to  continue  the  race 
of  one,  it  extinguishes  that  of  another. 

With  the  Hindoos,  on  the  contrary,  only  the  first  son  thus 
born  belongs  to  the  dead  husband  of  his  mother,  becomes  his 
heir,  and  is  bound  to  accomplish  the  required  funereal  ceremo- 
nies. All  other  children  are  recognized  as  progeny  of  the 
brother  or  relative  who  has  married  the  widow,  and,  in 
this  way,  his  devotion  does  not  ruin  his  own  hopes.  If  no 
second  son  should  be  born  to  him,  the  law  permits  his  adop- 
tion of  one  who  shall  bear  his  name,  and  perform  his  funereal 
sacrifices. 

The  'Hebrew  custom  is  mere  absurdity,  seeing  that  it  assigns 
all  the  children  born  of  the  widow,  to  the  defunct,  taking  no 
thought  for  the  natural  father  whom  it  deprives  of  posterity. 

The  Hindoo  usage  is  rational  and  logical,  seeing  that  it  pro- 
tects the  interests  of  both,  and  also  assigns  a  religious  motive 
for  an  act  otherwise  incomprehensible.  Whereas  the  Bible 
makes  no  attempt  at  explanatory  justification,  which  it  would, 
probably,  have  been  puzzled  to  invent. 

We  see  clearly  that  it  is  but  a  preserved  Hindoo  tradition, 
ks  legitimate  object  forgotten.     And  Onan  would  not,  certainly 


MOSES  AND   HEBREW  SOaETV.  137 

have  dreamt  of  prolonging  the  sterility  of  Thamer,  hsd  the  law 
assigned  to  his  brother  only  the  first  son  born  to  him. 

Animals  forbidden  as  impure  by  the  Bible  : 

Moses  prohibits  the  use  of  all  ruminant  animals  that  divide 
not  the  hoof,  and  also  the  pig,  which,  although  cloven-footed, 
does  not  ruminate. 

Of  fishes  he  permits  those  with  scales  and  fins,  but  forbids  all 
others,  as  impure. 

Of  birds,  the  follo\\ing  are  forbidden : 

The  eagle,  the  griffon,  the  falcon,  the  kite,  the  vulture,  and 
their  species.  The  crow  and  its  kind,  the  screech-owl,  the  ibis, 
the  cormorant,  the  swan,  the  bustard,  and  the  porphyrion. 
The  heron,  the  stork,  the  lapwing,  the  bat,  and  all  such  as  both 
fly  and  creep  on  all  fours.  , 

Of  land-animals,  are  prohibited  as  impure  — 

The  weasel,  the  mouse,  the  crocodile,  and  their  kinds.  The 
musk-rat,  the  chamelion,  the  lizard,  and  the  mole. 

The  man  who  eats  of  these  animals,  is  impure,  like  them. 
Who  touches  them,  when  dead,  is  impure  until  the  evening. 

The  vessel  that  has  contained  them  is  defiled,  ard  should  be 
broken. 

Forbidden  by  Manou  and  Brahminical  prohibitions  > 

The  regenerated  man  shall  abstain  from  quadrupeds  that 
divide  not  the  hoof,  except  those  permitted  by  Scripture. 

The  domestic  pig  (not  the  wild  boar)  is  declared  impure,  al- 
though dividing  the  hoof 

All  birds  of  prey,  without  exception,  such  as  the  vulture,  the 
eagle,  the  kite,  all  that  strike  with  the  beak  and  tear  with  the 
claws,  are  prohibited. 

And  it  is  especially  remarkable  that  the  same  prohibition 
protects  the  sparrow,  as  destroyer  of  hurtful  insects  and  pre- 
server of  the  harvest. 

Then  the  crane,  the  parrot,  the  swan,  the  woodpecker,  and 
all  that  seize  their  prey  with  the  tongue. 

All  fish  that  have  not  fins  and  scales. 


!»• 


138  THB   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

Lastly,  creeping  animals,  or  that  dig  holes  with  their  claws^ 
are  forbidden,  as  most  impure  of  all. 

All  impurity  from  contact  with  dead  anunal  matter  continue! 
for  ten  days  and  ten  nights  for  four  days,  or  only  for  one  day, 
according  to  the  individual's  reputation  for  virtue  and  wisdom. 

The  vessel  of  brass,  silver  or  gold,  that  has  contained  or  sim- 
ply touched  impure  matter,  must  be  purified,  as  ordained. 

The  earthen  vessel  should  be  broken  and  deeply  buried  in 
the  earth,  for  nothing  can  purify  it. 

What  are  we  to  say  to  such  homologous  legislation  ?  Will  it 
be  objected  that  these  prohibitions  are  but  sanitary  regulations, 
common  to  all  Oriental  peoples  ?  Not  the  less  would  India 
appear  the  initiatrix,  and  to  have  led  the  way. 

There  is  but  one  way  to  refute  all  this,  and  that  is  by  denying 
the  antiquity  of  India !  I  fully  expect  something  of  this  kind 
from  sworn  champions  of  a  certain  class.  I  would  beseech 
them  to  go  a  little  farther,  and  prove  the  Sanscrit  begotten  of 
the  Hebrew !  The  Hebrew  parent  of  the  Sanscrit !  Who 
knows  but  I  may  really  witness  such  a  pleasantry !     .     .     . 

Ordeal  of  Woman  suspected  of  Adultery : 

We  read  in  the  Bible —  (Book  of  Numbers)  : 

"  The  husband  shall  bring  his  wife  before  the  priest,  and  shall  present  for 
her  an  offering  of  a  tenth  part  of  a  measure  of  barley-flour.  He  shall  add 
no  incense  and  pour  no  oil  thereon,  for  it  is  a  sacrifice  of  jealousy,  an  offer- 
ing for  the  discovery  of  adultery. 

"  And  the  priest  having  taken  some  holy  water  in  an  earthen  vessel,  he 
shall  therein  put  a  little  earth  from  the  floor  of  the  tabernacle,  and  shall 
say  to  the  woman,  *  If  a  man  has  not  approached  you,  these  bitter  waters, 
charged  with  maledictions,  will  harm  you  not ;  but  if  you  have  been  un- 
faithful to  your  husband,  let  your  stomach  swell  and  burst,  and  your  thigh 
become  rotten,'  and  he  shall  present  her  the  draught." 

We  read  in  Gautama  —  (Commentaries  on  Manou) : 

•*  It  was  an  ancient  custom  to  bring  the  woman  accused  of  admitting  the 
embraces  of  another  man  than  her  husband  to  the  gate  of  the  pagoda  and 
deliver  hor  to  the  officiating  Brahmin,  who  having  thrown  a  sprig  of  cause^ 


MOSES   AND   HEBREW  SOCIETY.  I3f 

with  a  little  earth  gathered  from  the  foot-prints  of  an  unclean  animal,  into 
a  vessel  of  water  drawn  by  a  pariah,  presented  it  to  the  woman  to  drink, 
saying —  *  If  your  womb  has  not  received  strange  semen,  this  draught  will 
be  to  you  of  ambrosial  sweetness ;  if,  on  the  contrary,  you  have  been  thus 
defiled,  you  will  die,  and  you  will  be  bom  again  of  a  jackal;  but  in  the 
meantime  your  body  will  be  afflicted  with  elephantiasis  and  fall  into  rotteu- 
oess.'     For  this  religious  rite  the  law  has  of  late,"  &c.,  &c. 

Defilement  from  contact  of  the  Dead.     (Bible,  Numbers) : 

•*  Who  shall  touch  the  body  of  a  dead  man  is  unclean  for  seven  days, 
and  must  be  cleansed  by  aspersion  of  the  waters  of  expiatioiu 

••  All  who  enter  the  tent  of  the  dead  and  all  the  vessels  therein,  are  imcleaa 
for  seven  days.     The  defiled  defiles  all  he  touches." 

Defilement  from  contact  of  the  Dead.  (Manou  and  Brah- 
minical  traditions) : 

Impurity  from  touching  the  dead  continues  for  ten  days 
(Manou,  lib.  v.): 

Brahmins  are  purified  in  three  days. 

Who  enters  the  house  of  a  dead  vaysias  or  soudras  is  unclean 
for  ten  days. 

Defilement  from  touching  a  dead  Brahmin  lasts  but  one  day. 

When  a  man  dies,  all  the  vessels  in  the  house  are  impure. 
Vessels  of  metal  are  purified  by  fire,  vessels  of  earth  are  broken 
and  buried. 

Man  is  cleansed  by  ablutions  with  the  waters  of  purification 

Manou,  who  describes  some  of  the  fonns  and  usages  of  puri- 
fication in  his  time,  in  discussing  such  superstitious  practices, 
exclaims,  from  a  lofty  standard  unknown  to  the  Bible  : 

•*  Of  all  things  pure,  purity  in  the  acquisition  of  riches  is  the  best ;  ho 
who  preserves  his  pmity  in  becoming  rich,  is  really  pure,  and  not  him  who 
b  purified  with  earth  and  water. 

•*  Wise  men  purify  themselves  by  forgiveness  of  offences,  by  alms,  and 
by  prayer. 

"  The  Brahmin  purifies  hunself  by  study  of  the  Holy  Scripture.  A  s  the 
body  is  purified  by  water,  so  is  the  spirit  by  truth. 

"Sound  doctrines  and  good  work  purify  the  souL  The  intelligorcc  u 
purified  by  knowledge." 


140  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

That  this  idea  of  defilement  from  the  dead,  extending  even 
to  inanimate  things,  is  another  Hindoo  legacy,  cannot  be 
doubted.  Moses  has  copied  the^e  antique  traditions  word  for 
word,  but  in  reviving  usages  has  been  careful  not  to  reproduce 
those  wide  views,  those  grand  thoughts  which  we  encounter  at 
each  step  in  Manou,  whenever,  forgetting  his  role  of  subser- 
vience to  sacerdotalism,  he  echoes  the  sublime  breathings  of 
the  Primitive  and  unabridged  Vedas. 

It  is  not  the  last  time  that  the  Bible  will  be  found  beneath, 
and  never  will  it  surpass,  its  model. 

Pale  reflex  of  that  antique  civilization  which  inspired  the  old 
world,  it  would  seem  to  have  made  it  a  rule  only  to  initiate  the 
new  in  the  ridiculous  superstitions  with  which  Brahminical 
sacerdotalism  occupied  the  lives  of  the  people,  to  make  them 
forget  their  subjugation. 

Sacrifices  and  Ceremonies — Levitical  and  Hindoo: 

The  sacrifices  and  ceremonies  ordained  by  Moses  are  bor- 
rowed in  their  minutest  details  from  the  vulgar  worship  of  India. 

The  holocaust,  par  excellence,  of  Brahminical  sacrifices,  is  the 
ox — which  is  respected  in  India  as  the  most  welcome  sacri- 
fice that  can  be  ofiered  to  God. 

Leviticus  also  ordains  the  immolation  of  an  ox  at  the  door  of 
the  tabernacle. 

In  less  important  ceremonies  the  Brahmin  priest  offers  both 
red  deer  and  goats  on  the  altar ;  sheep  without  spot  and  that 
have  not  yet  brought  forth  young,  black  gazelles,  the  spotted 
doe,  and  turtle  doves. 

Leviticus,  in  like  manner,  ordains  the  sacrifice  of  sheep,  of 
goats,  and  of  doves. 

The  Hindoo  fruit  offering  consists  of  flour,  rice,  oil,  ghee, 
jmd  fat  of  all  kinds. 

The  Hebrews,  for  the  same  oblation  employ  flour,  bread,  and 
oil,  and  the  first  fruits  of  all  grains. 

With  both  i)eoples,  salt  should  be  added  to  all  offerings; 
and  Brahmins  and  Levites  alike  divide  among  themselves  a 
portion  of  the  sacrifice. 


MOSES  AND   HEBREW  SOaETY.  I4I 

A  perpetual  fire  bums  on  the  Hindoo  Altar,  fed  by  the  deva 
dassi,  or  consecrated  priestesses. 

The  same  fire  burns  in  the  Jewish  Tabernacle,  fed  by  Levitea 
-  •  for  Moses  admits  not  women  to  the  service  of  God. 

Lastly,  in  India  as  in  Judea,  all  impurities  and  all  offences 
against  religion  are  atoned  by  sacrifices  and  ceremonies  of 
purification. 

I  will  dwell  no  farther  on  this  subject,  what  I  have  said 
appearing  to  me  abundantly  to  establish  imitation. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  like  Egypt,  where  it  became  a  divinity 
to  the  people;  like  Persia  and  Greece,  where  it  constituted 
their  most  orthodox  hecatomb ;  so  did  Judea,  too,  inlierit  this 
respect  for  the  Ox,  which  is  incontestably  of  Indian  origin. 
Thus  do  we  encounter  at  each  page  of  the  Bible  such  passages 
as  these : 

"  You  shall  not  muzzle  the  mouth  of  the  ox  that  treads  out 
the  corn,  and  you  shall  permit  him  to  eat  thereof." 

"  You  shall  not  plough  with  an  ox  and  an  ass  yoked  together.' 

These  evidences  of  respect,  we  must  admit,  are  but  the  re- 
mains of  ancient,  vulgar  superstitions  of  the  Egyptians,  from 
which  Moses  was  unable  wholly  to  emancipate  himself. 

Hindoo  and  Hebrew  purification  of  women  after  child- 
birth: 

We  read  in  Leviticus —  And  in  Manou  — 

"If  a  woman,  suscepto  semine,  "  ^he  birth  of  a  chUd  is  a  defile- 

brings  forth  a  male  child,  she  is  im-  "^^^^  *«  ^^s  parents,  especially  to  the 

pure  for  seven  days,  as  for  her  mens-  "^o^^^^'  ^^^^^  is  declared  impure  for 

trual  period.  ^^  many  days  as  have  elapsed  months, 

"If  confined  of  a  girl,  she  is  im-  ^ince  her  conception,  and  her  purifi- 

pure  for  fourteen  days,  and  her  puri-  ^^^^o"  ^^^  ^^  accomplished,  as  after 

fication  shall  require  sixty  days.  ^^^  natural  seasons. " 

"When  Ihe  days  of  her  purifica-  And  we  read  in  Collouca's 

tion  are  accomplished,  whether  for  Commentaries  — 

girl  or  boy,  she  shall,  in  testimony  "  Formerly,  after  ablutions,  it  wai 

thereof,  bring  as  an  offering  to  the  customary  for  the  woman,  in  termin- 

door  of  the  Tabernacle,  a  lamb  of  a  ating  her  ceremonies  of  purification, 

year,ayo;mgpigeonoratartle-dove,  to  offer  a  young  imshom  lamb,  to- 


I4a  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

and  give  it  to  the  priest,  for  an  ex-    gather  with  honey,  rice,  and  glieew 
piation."  At  present,  after  ablutions,  slie  h\jf 

offers  to  Brahmin  sunniassis,  tei 
measures  of  rice,  and  six  copas  of 
clarified  butter." 


The  possession  of  property  forbidden  to  Brahmins : 
The  Brahmin's  mission,  according  to  Manou,  is  to  officiate 
at  sacrifices,  and  to  teach  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  he  may  not 
devote  any  portion  of  his  time  as  consecrated  to  the  Lord,  to 
cultivation  of  the  soil,  herding  of  cattle,  or  gathering  of  harvests. 
These  labors  have  been  assigned  by  the  Lord  to  Vaysias.  But 
tiere  is  not  a  field  in  India,  a  farm,  a  tree,  or  a  domestic  animal, 
hnt  must  contribute  to  satisfy  the  wants  of  the  Lord's  elect 


"  Give  to  the  Brahmins,"  says  the  divine  Brighou,  "your  first-gathered 
measure  of  rice,  the  first  calf,  the  first  kid,  the  first  lamb  of  your  folds  of 
each  year ;  give  them  also  the  first  fruits  of  your  cocoa-trees,  the  first  oil 
that  flows  from  your  press,  the  first  piece  of  stuff  that  you  weave ;  and 
finally,  if  you  will  that  the  Lord  shall  preserve  to  you  your  possessions,  and 
that  the  earth  shall  produce  abundantly,  according  to  your  desires,  know 
that  the  first  of  aU  that  belongs  to  you,  belongs  to  them." 

Identical  Hebrew  ordinance : 

Jehovah,  by  the  mouth  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  forbids  any 
assignment  of  land  to  the  Levites. 

**I  have  given  you,"  says  Jehovah,  "all  that  is  most  excellent  of  corn, 
wine,  and  oil  —  all  that  is  offered  as  first  fruits  to  the  Lord. 

**  All  the  first  fruits  of  the  earth  that  are  presented  to  the  Lord,  shall  bo 
reserved  for  your  use ;  the  pure  of  your  household  shall  eat  thereof. 

**  All  that  the  children  of  Israel  vow  to  me,  shaU  be  yours. 

**  All  the  first-bom,  whether  of  man  or  beast,  that  is  offered  to  the  Lord, 
shall  belong  to  you ;  providing,  nevertheless,  that  ye  shall  receive  a  price 
for  the  first -bom  of  man,  and  shall  exact  redemption  money  for  the  unclean 
of  animals. 

"  But  ye  shall  not  redeem  the  firstlings  of  the  ox,  the  goat,  and  the£lie«|^ 
far  they  are  agreeable  to  the  Lord." 


IfOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIETY.  I43 

The  only  difference  between  Hindoo  and  Hebrew,  is,  that 
the  first-born  of  man  was  not,  and  the  firstlings  of  unclean  ani- 
mals could  not  be  offered  to  Brahmins. 

Such  an  approach  to  identity  scarce  needs  comment,  the 
mfiuence  of  India  being  palpable,  both  in  detail  and  ensemble^ 
of  tlie  great  principles  bequeathed  by  her  to  social  antiquity, 

Levitical  impurities  and  their  purification : 

When  we  read  in  the  15  th  chap,  of  Leviticus,  the  laws  of 
purification  for  involuntary  defilements  of  either  man  or  woman, 
we  are  struck  with  very  natural  surprise  at  finding  them  a  mere 
reproduction  of  Hindoo  sacred  ordinances  on  the  same  subject 

Let  us  take,  for  example,  the  two  cases  of  the  above  men- 
tioned chapter,  and  collate  them  with  their  Hindoo  parallels. 

Uncleanness  of  the  man : 


«•  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  and  say  unto  them,  the  man  afflicted 

with  seminal  flax  is  unclean. 

**  And  ye  shall  know  he  is  thus  afflicted,  when  a  foetid  humor  shall  con- 
stiwntly  gather  and  adhere  to  his  skin. 

*•  The  bed  whereon  he  sleeps,  the  seat  whereon  he  sits,  shall  be  defiled. 

•*  If  a  man  touches  his  bed,  he  shall  wash  his  clothes  and  himself  in  water 
—  and  remain  unclean  until  the  evening. 

*'  Who  shall  sit  where  he  hath  sat,  shall  also  wash  himself  and  his  clothes 
in  water — and  remain  unclean  until  the  evening. 

*'  Who  shall  have  touched  his  person,  &c.,  &c. 

*«  Should  he  expectorate  upon  one  that  is  pure,  the  latter  shall,  &c.,  &c, 
and  remain  impure  until  the  evening. 

•'  The  saddle,  and  all  that  has  been  under  the  person  so  afflicted,  shall  be 
unclean  until  the  evening.  And  who  shall  carry  any  of  these  things,  shall 
wash,  &c. ,  &c. ,  and  be  unclean  imtil  the  evening.  And  if,  before  so  wash- 
ing, he  shall  touch  another  man  —  that  other  shall  also  wash,  &c,  and  be 
unclean  until  the  evening. 

**  Any  vessel  touched  by  such  man,  if  of  earth,  it  shall  be  broken,  if  of 
wood,  it  shall  be  washed  with  water. 

**  Should  the  afflicted  be  healed,  he  shaU  yet  count  seven  da)rs,  and  having 
washed  his  person  and  his  clothes  in  running  water,  he  shall  be  clean. 

**On  the  eighth  day,  he  shall  take  two  mrtle-doves  and  two  young 
pigeons,  and  shall  present  himself  before  the  Lord  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Tabenacle  of  the  Covenant,  and  shall  give  them  to  the  priest,  who  shall 


144  I^B   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

offer  one  for  a  sin,  and  the  other  for  a  burnt  offering,  ard  tfiall  pu.y  for  hht 
before  the  Lord  that  he  be  ckansed  from  his  impurity. 

"  The  man  who  shall  have  gone  in  unto  a  woman  (vir  de  quo  egreditu^ 
semcfi  coitus)  shall  wash  his  whole  body,  and  be  imclean  until  the  evening. 

**  The  woman  whom  be  shall  have  gone  in  unto,  shall  in  like  mannet 
wash,  and  be  unclean  until  the  evening." 

Uncleanness  of  the  Woman : 

**  The  woman  in  her  menstrual  state,  shall  be  secluded  for  seven  days. 

**  Who  shall  touch  her  shall  be  unclean  until  evening,  and  whatever  she 
shall  sleep  upon,  or  sit  upon,  during  the  days  of  her  seclusion,  shall  be 
defiled. 

**Who  shall  have  touched  her  bed,  shall  wash  his  clothes,  and  having 
plunged  himself  in  water,  shall  be  unclean  until  evening. 

**If  a  man  approach  her  while  in  this  monthly  recurring  condition,  he 
shall  be  xmclean  for  seven  days,  and  aU  the  beds  whereon  he  sleeps  shall  be 
defiled. 

"The  woman  in  whom  this  condition  is  irregular,  or  prolonged  beyond 
the  natural  period,  shall  remain  unclean  as  for  each  month  while  it  con- 
tinues. 

*^  And  during  this  prolongation^  all  on  which  she  shall  have  slept  or  sat 
shall  be  defiled,  and  whosoever  shall  have  touched  them  shall  wash  his  clothes 
and  his  person,  and  be  unclean  until  the  evening. 

"The  period  over,  and  its  effects  having  ceased,  the  woman  shall  coimt 
seven  days  before  ourifying  herself. 

"On  the  eighth  she  shall  offer  for  herself  to  the  priest,  two  turtle  doves 
nd  two  young  pigeons,  at  the  entrance  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  covenant, 

**The  priest  shall  offer  one  for  a  sin,  and  the  other  for  a  burnt  offering, 
and  shall  pray  before  the  Lord  for  her,  and  for  her  purification. 

"  Ye  shall,  therefore,  teach  the  children  of  Israel  that  they  preserve  them- 
selves from  all  impure  things,  that  they  die  not  of  such  defilement,  and  pol- 
lute not  any  tabernacle  which  is  in  their  midst. 

**  Such  is  the  law  for  one  afflicted  with  seminal  flux,  or  A^ho  shall  defile 
lamself  in  approaching  a  woman. 

**  Such  is  also  the  law  as  regards  the  woman  secluded  during  her  monthly 
periods,  or  when  that  period  recurs  irregularly  or  so  prolonged ;  and  such 
tise  for  the  man  who  shall  approach  her  at  such  a  time." 

Vedic  Impurities  and  their  Purification  (Ramatsariar) : 

The  Vedas,  or  Holy  Scriptures^  propound  the  principle,  that 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIETV.  145 

US  spintnal  tarnish  is  atoned  by  prayer  and  good  works,  so 
should  personal  defilement  be  purified  by  ablutions. 

Ramatsariar,  whom  we  are  about  to  cite,  is  a  sage  of  high 
antiquity,  greatly  venerated  by  Brahmin  theologians  in  the  south 
of  India,  and  a  recognized  authority  on  all  connected  with  the 
ceremonies  and  sacrifices  of  religion, 

His  words  on  the  subject  are : 

"  Men  and  women  are  alike  subject  to  a  condition  that  for- 
bids their  participation  in  family  festivals  and  ceremonies  of  the 
temple,  for  they  are  unclean,  nor  are  they  purified  by  ablutions 
in  the  sacred  waters  of  the  Ganges  until  after  that  condition  has 
ceased." 

Uncleanness  of  the  Man  : 

"  Every  man  who  has  contracted  disease  from  the  use  or  abuse  of  women 
shall  be  impure  while  it  continues,  and  for  ten  days  and  ten  nights  after  his 
restoration. 

**  His  breath  is  impure,  his  saliva  and  his  perspiration  are  impure. 

**  He  may  not  eat  with  his  wife,  with  his  children,  nor  with  any  other  of 
bis  caste  or  relations,  his  food  becomes  unclean,  and  all  who  eat  with  him 
are  unclean  for  three  days. 

"His  clothes  are  defiled,  and  must  be  cleansed  by  the  waters  of  purifica- 
tion, and  all  who  touch  him  are  vmclean  for  three  days. 

"  Who  speaks  to  him  from  the  leeward  is  impure,  and  purifies  himself  by 
ablution  at  sunset. 

"The  mat  of  his  bed  is  defiled,  and  must  be  burned. 

**  His  bed  is  defiled,  and  must  be  cleansed  by  the  waterb  of  purification, 

"His  drinking  vessels,  and  the  earthen  dishes  that  have  contained  his  rice 
are  defiled,  and  must  be  broken  and  bviried  in  the  earth. 

"If  his  vessels  are  of  copper  or  any  other  metal,  they  may  be  cleansed  by 
the  waters  of  purification,  or  by  fire. 

The  woman  who,  knowing  his  condition,  shall  consent  to  him,  shall  bo 
unclean  for  ten  days  and  ten  nights,  and  shall  offer  the  sacrifice  of  purifica- 
tion after  having  bathed  in  the  tank  destined  for  shameful  defilements. 

"The man  thus  defiled  shall  be  incapable  of  performing  the  anniversary 
funereal  ceremonies  of  the  death  of  his  parents;  the  sacrifice  would  be  im- 
pure, and  rejected  by  the  Lord. 

**  The  horse,  the  camel,  the  elephaat  on  which  he  may  ride  on  pilgrimage 
shall  be  impure,  and  shall  be  washed  in  water  wherein  b  dissolved  a  sprig 
of  cousa. 

18 


146  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

"If  he  make  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Ganges,  his  fault  shall  not  be  remitted 
because  he  did  it  while  unclean. 

**  If  he  bring  back  the  water  of  the  holy  river,  they  may  not  serve  foi 
waters  of  purification,  they  become  impure  like  himself. 

"Should  he  in  this  state  strike  a  man  of  his  own  caste,  he  shall  suffei 
double  the  ordinary  fine,  and  the  man  struck  shall  be  impure  until  simset, 

"When  healed,  he  shall  wash  himself  in  the  pond  for  shameful  defile« 
ments ;  he  shall  then  perform  his  ablutions  in  the  waters  of  purification, 
and  thereafter  devote  the  entire  day  to  prayer,  for  which  he  has  been  dis- 
qualified until  then. 

"  He  shall  make  abundant  ofiering  to  religious  devotees. 

"He  shall  then  present  himself  at  the  gate  of  the  temple,  and  shall  there 
deposit  his  offerings  of  rice,  of  honey,  and  of  ghee,  with  a  young  lamb  that 
has  not  yet  been  shorn.  If  poor,  and  unable  to  offer  a  lamb,  he  shall  offer 
Ik  couple  of  young  pigeons  without  spot,  and  which  shall  not  yet  have  builded 
Dtfsts  or  warbled  the  song  of  love. 

"He  shall  then  be  purified,  and  may  again  rejoice  with  his  wife  and 
children." 


Impurity  of  the  Woman  : 

"  The  divine  Manou  has  said  —  *  Sixteen  complete  days  with 
four  distinct  days,  interdicted  by  those  of  good  repute,  consti 
tute  what  is  called  the  natural  season  of  the  woman,  during 
which  her  husband  may  approach  her  with  love.  Of  these  six- 
teen days,  the  first  four  being  forbidden,  as  also  the  eleventh 
and  the  thirteenth,  the  remaining  ten  days  are  approved.' " 

"  The  Veda  has  said —  *  The  husband  should  respect  his  wife 
during  her  natural  seasons,  as  we  respect  the  blossom  of  the 
banana  which  announces  fecundity  and  future  harvest.' " 

"  The  eleventh  and  thirteenth  days  are  interdicted  firom  motives  of  con- 
tinence. The  first  four  days  alone  are  considered  defiling  to  thobc  who  do 
not  respect  them. 

"  During  these  four  days  the  woman  is  impure  ;  let  her  take  refuge  ir. 
her  apartment,  and  hide  herself  from  her  husband,  her  children,  and  hei 
servants. 

"Her  respiration,  her  saliva,  and  her  perspiration  are  impure. 

"  What  she  touches  becomes  instantly  impure,  and  the  milk  coagulatei 
in  the  vessel  which  she  hjlds  in  her  hands. 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOaETY.  147 

**  The  mat  of  her  bed  is  defiled,  and  shall  be  burnt,  and  the  bed  cleansed 
with  the  waters  of  purification. 

**  Whatever  she  may  repose  upon  shall  be  impure,  all  who  shall  tDuch 
her  shall  be  impure,  and  shall  purify  themselves  by  evening  ablutions. 

*•  Let  her  not  pronounce  the  name  of  her  husband,  nor  of  her  father,  noi 
©f  her  mother,  in  this  condition,  for  she  is  impure  and  will  defile  them, 

**  Let  her  not  rub  herself  wnth  saffron. 

*'Let  her  not  dress  herself  with  flowers. 

**  Let  her  not  desire  her  women  to  dress  her  hair ;  in  this  state  she  should 
not  seek  to  please. 

**  Let  her  lay  aside  her  jewels,  for  they  will  be  defiled,  and  must  be  puri- 
fied by  fire. 

•'  She  should  not  eat  with  her  husband,  her  children,  or  her  women,  even 
should  the  latter  be  of  her  own  caste. 

"Let  her  refrain  from  making  offerings  or  assisting  at  funeral  ceremonies ; 
ber  offering  will  be  impure,  the  ceremonies  defiled, 

"Should  the  four  days'  impurity,  ordamed  by  the  divine  Manou,  be  pro- 
longed by  two,  by  four,  or  by  six  days,  purification  may  not  be  effected  dur- 
ing such  time,  as  the  law  prescribes. 

*'  When  all  external  signs  have  ceased,  and  after  two  ablutions  of  the 
morning  and  of  the  evening,  which  are  called  ablution  of  the  rising  and  ab- 
lution of  the  setting  sun,  let  her  accomplish  her  cleansing  with  the  water  of 
purification. 

**Let  her  then  present  herself  at  the  gate  of  the  pagoda,  and  deposit  her 
offerings  of  rice,  of  honey,  and  of  ghee ;  let  her  also  offer  a  yoimg  lamb 
without  spot  and  imshom,  or  in  default,  a  couple  of  pigeons  that  have  not 
yet  warbled  the  song  of  love,  nor  builded  their  nests. 

"And  having  done  so  she  will  be  purified,  and  may  resume  her  househol 
occupations. 

**  And  she  may  recall  to  her,  her  husband,  who  had  separated  himself  in 
obedience  to  the  word  of  Scripture,  *  He  who  during  the  interdicted  nights 
shall  abstain  from  conjugal  commiming,  preserves  himself  as  pure  as  a  dwiJia 
or  a  brahmatchar.' " 

With  such  striking  parallels  between  Hebrew  and  Hindoo 
aociety  before  us,  he  must  indeed  be  an  unflinching  champion 
of  revelation  to  see  in  Moses  aught  but  a  legislator  who,  having 
to  legislate  for  a  people,  the  issue  of  a  servile  class,  of  a  class 
that  knew  no  subordination  to  other  rules  than  those  of  labor 
and  of  endurance,  was  content  to  copy  Manes,  and  those 
^"lyptian  institutions  which  are  incontestably  of  Oriental  origin. 


I4S  THE   BIBLE   IN    INDIA. 

Do  we  not  know,  moreover,  that  all  the  peoples  of  Asia  were 
subject  to  the  same  usages,  still  honored  by  the  majority  o^ 
ihem? 

In  those  hot  climates  religion  took  upon  itself  the  duty  of 
sanitary  legislation  for  personal  cleanliness,  as  the  only  n>ean? 
of  contending  against  dangerous  epidemics  that  periodicail) 
desolate  those  countries,  and  guarding  against  leprosy,  that  hid 
eous  malady  that  Europe  knows  no  more,  but  which  still  pre- 
vails in  the  East  with  the  same  virulence  as  in  ancient  times. 

From  Manou  to  Mahomet  these  sanitary  laws  were  the  same ; 
climate  indicated  the  necessity,  and  I  certainly  should  not  have 
taken  the  trouble  to  show  that  Moses  was  but  the  copyist  of 
earlier  usages,  but  which  it  was  natural  to  adopt,  were  it  not 
that  there  are  people  who,  in  their  enthusiasm,  whether  sincere 
or  conventional,  obstinately  persist  in  everywhere  seeing  revela- 
tion and  the  finger  of  God. 

Moses  commanded  the  sacrifice  of  an  ox  upon  the  altar, 
after  the  example  of  the  Brahmins,  the  Hierophants  of  Egypt, 
the  Magi  of  Persia,  the  priests  of  ancient  Greece  ;  instead  of 
therein  seeing  the  natural  adoption  of  usages  as  old  as  the 
world,  the  Jesuits,  Menochius,  and  Carri^re,  there  find  a  type 
and  symbol  of  the  Eucharist ! 

Moses  commands  the  ablutions  required  by  climate,  and 
adopts  the  regulations  ordained  by  Manes  and  Manou ;  instead 
of  admitting  that  he  has  therein  but  followed  the  prevailing  cus- 
tom of  the  East,  the  same  Jesuits  see  in  the  ablutions  imposed 
upon  the  Hebrews  a  symbol  of  the  purity  of  the  new  faith, 
which  should,  later,  regenerate  the  Christian  world ! 

The  system  of  interpretation  is  always  the  same,  the  most  in 
significant  custom  is  attributed  to  Mount  Sinai,  and  to  Divine 
inspiration.  But  to  sustain  such  propositions,  to  what  pitiable 
arguments  are  we  not  obliged  to  descend ! 

But  why  are  we  astonished  ?  Have  we  not  long  known  thai 
for  certain  classes  there  is  neither  historic  truth,  good  sense,  nor 
iciison,  outside  their  own  pale? 

Will  Brahmins,  Magi,  Levites,  and  Hierophants,  in  proclaim' 


MOSES  AND   HEBREW  SOCIETY.  I49 

ing  themselves  the  chosen  of  God,  the  sole  dispensers  of  truth 
and  right,  for  a  moment  permit  discussion  of  their  own  posi- 
tion ?  Do  they  not  proscribe  their  enemies  ?  Have  they  not 
made  monarchs  tremble  who  sought  emancipation  from  their 
rule  ?  Have  they  i.ot  governed  by  torture  and  oy  the 
<Jtake  ? 

What  ground  for  surprise,  then,  if  we  find  the  tradition  con- 
tinuous ;  if  the  heritage  has  found  inheritors,  and  if  modem 
Leviteism,  gather  all  its  forces,  call  out  all  its  reserves  for  a 
pitched  battle,  with  the  avowed  object  of  proscribing  reason 
and  liberty,  and  of  revivifying  that  ancient  sacerdotal  despotism, 
which  heretofore  filled  the  world  with  ruins,  and  with 
martyrs  ? 

Bible  prohibition  of  the  blood  of  animals  as  food.  We  read 
m  Leviticus  : 

**  If  a  man,  whether  of  the  house  of  Israel,  or  of  the  strangers  that  dwell 
amongst  you,  shall  eat  blood,  the  eye  of  my  wrath  shall  rest  upon  him, 
and  I  will  destroy  him  from  amongst  his  people. 

**  Because  the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood,  and  I  have  given  it  to  you 
that  it  may  serve  you  at  the  altar,  as  an  expiation  for  your  souls,  and  tha«- 
the  soul  be  expiated  by  the  blood. 

'•  For  this  have  I  said  to  the  children  of  Israel,  that  none  amongst  you 
nor  of  the  strangers  that  dwell  among  you,  shall  eat  blood. 

"If  any  man  of  the  children  of  Israel,  or  of  the  strangers  that  dwell 
amongst  you,  shall  take  any  animal  in  the  chase,  or  any  bird  in  his  net, 
that  it  is  lawful  to  eat,  let  him  spill  the  blood,  and  cover  it  with  earth. 

"  For  the  life  of  all  flesh  is  in  the  blood;  and  for  this  have  I  said  to  the 
child:en  of  Israel :  *  The  blood  of  all  animals  shall  ye  not  eat,  for  the  life 
of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood,  and  who  shall  eat  of  it  shall  be  punished  with 
death.'" 

Prohibition  of  dead  animals : 

«*  If  any  man  of  the  children  of  Israel,  or  of  strangers,  shall  eat  of  the 
€esh  of  any  animal  that  shall  have  died,  cr  shall  have  been  killed  by  an- 
other animal,  he  shall  wash  his  vestments  and  his  person  m  water,  and 
shall  be  impure  until  the  evening,  and  shall  be  cleansed  by  this  ceremony. 

•*  But  if  he  wash  not  his  vcstmetts  and  his  person,  he  shall  remain  de* 
filed.' 

18« 


1S»  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

Brahminical  prohibitions  on  the  same  subject     We  read  in 

Ramatsariar : 

"  The  man  who  eats  of  the  blood  of  an  animal  permitted  as  food  by  the 
Veda,  is  called  the  son  of  a  vampire,  and  shall  perish,  for  no  man  should 
nourish  himself  with  blood. 

"  Who  shall  eat  of  the  blood  of  an  animal  forbidden  by  the  Veda,  shall 
die  of  leprosy,  and  his  soul  shall  revive  in  the  body  of  an  unclean  jackal. 

**  The  blood  is  the  life,  it  is  the  Divine  fluid  that  waters  and  fertilizes  the 
matter  of  which  the  body  is  formed,  as  the  hundred  arms  of  the  Ganges 
water  and  fecundate  the  sacred  soil ;  and  as  it  would  be  senseless  to  attempt 
to  dry  up  the  source  of  the  great  river,  so  may  not  the  sources  of  life  be 
uselessly  drained,  nor  profaned  as  food. 

**It  is  through  the  blood  that  the  Divine  essence  emitted  from  the  Great 
All  (who  is  all  and  is  in  all),  and  which  is  the  soul,  unites  itself  to  the 
body  It  is  the  blood  unites  the  foetus  to  the  mother,  it  is  by  the  blood  we 
hold  to  God. 

* '  We  eat  not  the  sap  of  trees,  which  is  their  blood,  and  produces  fruit. 
In  like  manner  we  may  not  eat  the  blood  of  animals,  which  is  their  sap. 

"The  blood  contains  the  mysterious  secrets  of  existence,  no  created  be- 
ing can  exist  without  it.  To  eat  blood  is  to  profane  the  Creator's  Great 
Work. 

*•  Let  man  who  has  eaten  of  it  fear  that  in  successive  transmigration  be 
may  never  escape  from  the  body  of  the  imclean  animal  in  which  his  soul 
has  been  re-born. 

**  The  sacrificing  Brahmin  cuts  the  throat  of  the  ox,  the  lamb,  or  the 
goat,  before  offering  it  on  the  altar  ;  let  this  be  your  example. 

**  When  you  desire  to  eat  of  the  flesh  of  animals,  clean  and  not  forbid- 
den, whether  ruminants,  and  dividing  the  hoof,  or  others  taken  in  the 
chase,  fowls  or  quadrupeds,  make  a  hole  in  the  earth  and  cover  it  over,  af- 
ter having  therein  spilled  the  blood  of  the  animal  you  would  eat. 

"Apart  from  pains  of  the  other  world,  elephantiasis,  leprosy,  and 
diseases  the  most  vile  attend  him  who  shall  transgress  these  prohibi- 
tions." 

Prohibition  of  animals  that  have  died: 

**  The  animal  that  dies  naturally,  or  by  accident  is  impure,  although  not 
of  a  class  forbidden  by  the  Holy  Scripture,  for  the  blood  is  still  in  th« 
body,  and  has  not  been  spilled  on  the  earth. 

**  Who  eats  of  it  eats  of  the  blood  with  the  flesh,  which  is  forbidden,  an4 
be  becomes  impure  as  the  animal  of  which  he  has  eaten. 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOaETT.  f5l 

•*  If  so  many  of  the  lower  classes  die  of  leprosy,  snd  of  vile  diseaset 
which  make  their  bodies  a  prey  to  worms,  even  before  .hey  have  ceased  to 
live,  it  is  because  they  feed  upon  every  dead  animal  they  find. 

**  Who  shall  have  thus  eaten  should  proceed  to  the  tank  for  vile  defile- 
ments,  and  having  washed  his  clothes,  plunge  his  body  into  the  water,  and 
after  three  prolonged  ablutions,  shall  remain  imclean  until  the  second  sun- 
rising." 

In  forbidding  blood  as  food,  Moses  assigns  no  other  reason 
for  the  prohibition  than  that  expressed  in  this  line,  "  Because 
the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood,"  and  as  usual  offers  no  ex- 
planation of  his  idea. 

We  see  plainly  tliat  he  was  addressing  a  people  who  required 
rather  to  be  ruled,  than  taught,  and  who  accepted  his  prohibi- 
tions -vsdthout  requiring  a  reason. 

In  India,  on  the  contrary,  the  same  prohibition  requires  to 
be  developed,  to  address  itself  to  the  understanding,  to  make  it 
understood  why  it  was  ordained,  and  then  the  attendant  con- 
siderations assume  a  lofty  import,  which  the  Bible  has  not  per- 
ceived, because  its  version  was  but  an  imperfect  recollection  : 

"  The  blood  is  the  life,  it  is  the  Divine  fluid  that  waters  and 
fecundates  the  matter  of  which  is  formed  the  body,  as  the  hun- 
dred arms  of  the  Ganges  water  and  fertilize  the  sacred  soil. 

"  It  is  through  the  blood  that  the  pure  essence  emanating 
from  the  Great  Whole,  and  which  is  the  soul,  unites  itself  to 
the  body." 

Science  may  laugh  at  this  definition  of  the  Veda ;  the  thinker 
will  admire  the  emblem. 

And  Moses  certainly  but  curtailed  his  recollections  when  he 
wrote  this  simple  explanation  of  the  law  he  imposed,  "Because 
the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood." 

Do  not  these  striking  coincidences  prove  inconte  stably  that 
die  Bible  is  but  an  echo  of  Oriental  institutions?  I  don't 
know  if  I  delude  myself,  but  it  seems  to  me  that,  seriously  con- 
sidered, such  is  the  conclusion  that  naturally  presents  itself 
from  smiple  study  of  the  book  left  by  Moses. 

In  the  <ive  books  attribKied  to  this  legislator,  we  find  at  eacfl 


152 


THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 


Step  details,  manners,  customs,  ceremonies,  mcdes  of  sacrifice^ 
laws,  which,  given  without  the  faintest  explanation,  can  only 
find  their  raison  d'etre  in  imitation  of  ancient  civilizations,  and 
the  farther  we  advance  in  this  comparative  study  the  more 
shall  we  become  persuaded  that  Moses  did  but  abridge,  for  the 
Gse  cf  the  Hebrews,  those  institutions  of  Egypt  which  the  lat 
tet  had  received  from  India. 


Israelites  forbidden  to  kill 
their  oxen,  sheep,  or  goats 
elsewhere  than  before  the 
tabernacle. 


Thus  says  Leviticus :  — 

"  And  the  Lord  spake  again  unto 
Moses,  and  said  unto  him  : 

"Speak  unto  Aaron  and  to  his 
sons  and  tell  the  children  of  Israel, 
'Behold  what  the  Lord  hath  com- 
manded, behold  what  He  hath  said : 

"  *  Every  man  of  the  house  of  Is- 
rael who  shall  have  killed  an  ox,  a 
sh-ep,  or  a  goat,  in  the  camp  or  out 
of  the  camp,  instead  of  slaughtering 
them  before  the  tabernacle  as  offer- 
ings to  the  Lord,  shall  be  guilty  of 
murder,  and  shall  perish  in  the  midst 
of  the  people  as  if  he  had  shed  the 
blood  of  one  of  his  fellows.' 

**  Therefore,  should  the  children 
of  Israel  present  to  the  priest  th*ir 
Animals  foi-  slaughter,  instead  of 
iiaughteric:g  them  in  the  fields,  that 


Before  investigating  the 
symbolic  meaning  of  this 
curious  injunction  against 
the  slaughter  of  animals,  ox, 
lamb,  or  goat,  except  at  the 
gate  of  the  Tabernacle  and 
in  the  hands  of  the  priest, 
let  us  see  what  were  the 
Hindoo  ordinances  on  the 
subject. 

We  read  in  Manou,  lib.  v  : 

**  The  Being  who  exists  by  his  owh 
will  has  himself  created  animals  for 
sacrifice,  and  by  sacrifice  is  this  uni- 
verse magnified,  therefore  the  slaugh- 
ter committed  in  sacrifice  is  not  a 
murder. 

**For  as  many  hairs  as  had  the 
animal  on  its  body,  so  many  times 
shall  he  who  slaughters  it  after  an 
unlawful  manner  perish  by  a  violent 
death  at  each  succeeding  birth  by 
transmigration. 

**  Who  shall  only  eat  of  the  flesh 
of  an  animal,  bought  or  received 
from  another,  after  having  offered  it 
to  God,  is  not  guilty,  for  to  eat  fleslr 
after  accomplishment  of  sacrifice  haj 
been  declared  the  divine  law. 

"A  Bahmin  should  never  eat  ol 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIErV. 


153 


tKey  may  be  sanctified  by  the  Lord, 
to  whom  they  have  been  offered  as  a 
peace-sacrifice,  before  the  Taberna- 
cle of  the  Covenant. 

"The  priest  shall  sprinkle  the 
blood  upon  the  altar  at  the  gate  of 
the  Tabernacle  of  the  G')venant,  and 
shall  bum  the  fat  for  a  sweet  savor 
to  the  Lord. 

"And  thus  shall  they  no  more 
sacrifice  their  animals  to  demons,  to 
whom  they  were  before  sacrificed, 
and  this  law  shall  be  eternal  for  them 
and  for  their  posterity. 

•'  Say  unto  them :  If  a  man  of  the 
house  of  Israel,  or  of  those  who  have 
come  from  without,  and  who  are 
strangers  amongst  you,  kill  an  animal 
without  bringing  it  to  the  entrance 
of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  testimony 
that  it  may  be  sanctified  by  the  Lord, 
he  shall  perish  in  the  midst  of  his 
people." 


the  flesh  of  animals  which  have  not 
been  consecrated  by  prayers,  but  let 
him  eat  conformably  to  the  eternal 
law,  after  consecration  by  holy  words, 

"Who  shall  even  daily  ncfirish 
himself  on  the  flesh  of  animals  per- 
mitted for  food,  commits  no  fault, 
for  Brahma  has  created  certain  ani- 
mals to  be  eaten  and  others  to  eat 
them. 

••  Let  the  devotee  who  knows  the 
law  never  desire  to  kill  an  animal 
without  making  it  an  offering,  let 
him  never  eat  flesh  without  conform- 
ing to  this  rule,  unless  under  urgent 
necessity. 

"Who  merely  for  his  pleasure 
shall  kill  iimocent  animals,  his  hap- 
piness shall  not  increase  neither  in 
life  nor  after  death. 

"But  the  anchorite  in  his  forest- 
retreat  should  never  commit  murdei 
upon  animals  without  sanction  of 
the  Veda,  even  under  distress." 


Extract  from  the  Sama-Veda : 


"  We  should  respect  animals,  for  their  imperfection  is  the  work  of  SU' 
preme  wisdom  that  governs  the  world,  and  that  wisdom  ought  to  be 
respected  even  in  its  minutest  works. 

"  You  shall  not,  therefore,  without  necessity,  or  for  pleasure,  kill  ani- 
mals which  are,  like  yourself,  of  divine  creation. 

"  You  shall  not  torment  them. 

"  You  shall  not  afflict  them. 

"  Yoi  shall  not  over- work  them. 

"You  shall  not  abandon  them  in  their  old  age,  remembering  the  servi- 
ces they  have  rendered  you. 

"  Man  may  only  kill  animals  for  food ;  carefully  shunning  tHose  tliat  an 
forbidden  as  unclean. 

"  Even  in  killing  them  for  food  he  commits  a  fault,  for  which  he  will  m 
■evereiy  punished  if  he  observe  not  the  prescribed  rules. 

"  Let  him  lead  his  animal  before  the  temple,  and  the  priest  shall  slangh- 


154  T^BM  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

ter  it  in  offering  it  to  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  sprinkle  the  blood  of  tb«  nctia 
upon  the  altar. 

"  For  the  blood  is  the  life,  and  life,  in  departing,  should  return  to  God. 

**  Who  shall  eat  flesh  without  conforming  to  the  prescribed  rules  of  Holy 
Scripture  shall  die  ignominiously,  for  he  has  shed  blood  without  offering  it 
to  the  Master  of  all  things." 

On  the  same  subject,  Ramatsariar  (Commentaries) 

'*  Who  would  observe  the  prescribed  law  will  not  eat  the  flesh  of  anhnalf 
dntil  after  he  has  had  them  offered  to  God  by  the  sacrificmg  Brahmin,  who 
shall  sprinkle  blood  upon  the  altar,  for  the  blood  must  be  offered  to  the 
Creator  to  sanctify  the  death. 

**  Who  shall  eat  of  the  flesh,  without  sacrifice,  shall  be  cursed  in  this 
world  and  in  the  next,  for  the  divine  Manou  has  said,  *  He  shall  devour  ma 
in  the  other  world  whose  flesh  I  shall  eat  in  this.' " 

It  appears  from  the  above  cited  passages  of  Leviticus,  that 
Moses  prohibited  the  slaughter  of  animals  by  the  Hebrews, 
elsewhere  than  at  the  gate  of  the  Tabernacle,  under  penalty  of 
death. 

But,  as  usual,  the  legislator  stoops  not  to  explain  fiis  motives 
and  the  object  of  his  prohibition. 

Wherefore,  in  the  words  of  the  Bible,  forbid  the  slaughter  of 
all  animals  in  castris  vel  extra  castra^  in  the  camp,  or  outside 
of  the  camp  ? 

Verse  7,  chap,  xvii.,  Leviticus,  which  treats  of  this  matter, 
contains  a  semblance  of  explanation  in  these  words  :  "  Et  ne- 
quaquam  ultra  immolabunt  hostias  saus  dcemonibus,  and  they 
shall  henceforth  no  more  offer  their  sacrifices  to  false  gods." 

But  what  does  this  passage  prove  ?  It  simply  indicates  that 
formerly  the  Israelites  offered  their  sacrifices  before  statues  of 
gods  that  Jehovah  had  overthrown,  and  the  same  custom  was 
continued  for  the  profit  of  the  new  worship. 

What  we  wish  to  discover  in  the  works  of  Moses  is  the  idea 
that  suggested  this  prohibition  of  immolation  elsewhere  than  at 
the  gate  of  the  Tabernacle,  ut  sanctificeniur  Domino^  'hat  the 
slaughtered  animal  be  sanctified  by  the  Lord. 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW   SOCIETY.  155 

Moses  did  but  abridge  the  ordinances  of  ancient  Egypt  and 
India,  and  in  retaining  the  custom,  ahvays  contrives  (he  is  a 
careless  transcriber)  to  forget  the  idea  that  gave  it  birth. 

Let  us  return  to  the  passages  above  transcribed  from  Manou 
and  the  Veda  on  the  same  subject,  and  then  it  is  possible  to 
dissipate  the  obscurity  of  the  Bible-text,  to  explain  it  logically 
always  deducing  therefrom  the  natural  conclusion  that  this  text, 
like  all  the  rest,  is  but  the  result  of  an  ill-executed  copy. 

All  ancient  nations,  and  above  all,  the  Hindoos,  had  a  re- 
spect most  profound  for  the  mysterious  work  of  Divine  Crea- 
tion, and  their  constant  pre-occupation  was  not  to  do  it  vio- 
lence ;  hence  their  pious  horror  of  blood  and  of  the  slaughter 
of  animals.  Between  this  reverence  for  and  their  own  mate- 
rial necessities  of  life,  which  forced  a  resort  to  animal  food, 
they  invented  this  religious  fiction,  which  consists  in  immolat- 
ing the  animal  destined  for  their  subsistence  before  the  temple 
of  the  Divinity,  and  thus  to  legitimatize  the  blood  spilled  by 
offering  it  to  the  Creator. 

For,  as  expressed  by  the  Veda,  — 

"  The  blood  is  the  life,  and  all  life  in  its  extinction  should 
return  to  God." 

Hence  the  prohibition  addressed  by  Manou  and  the  Holy 
Scriptures  to  all  Brahmins,  devotees,  and  holy  men,  to  eat  of 
the  flesh  of  an  animal  that  has  not  been  first  sacrificed  to  God. 

Hence,  too,  those  words  of  the  Bible  : 

"  Every  man  of  the  house  of  Israel  who  shall  have  killed  an 
ox,  or  a  sheep,  or  a  goat,  in  the  camp  or  out  of  the  camp,  and 
who  shall  not  have  presented  them  at  the  gate  of  the  Taberna- 
cle to  be  offered  to  the  Lord,  shall  be  guilty  of  murder." 

It  was  from  India,  oeyond  doubt,  that  the  whole  East  adopted 
this  practice  of  sanctifying  the  flesh  of  which  they  were  about 
to  partake,  by  offering  its  blood  (its  life)  to  the  Lord. 

Later,  the  primitive  idea  became  dim  and  symbolic ;  and  the 
custom  of  sacrificing  each  animal  killed,  to  the  Creator,  ceased. 
For  this  daily  usage  was  substituted  periodical  festivals,  during 


156  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

which  the  people  brought  animals  of  all  kinds  ;o  be  saciCicel 

by  the  priest  on  the  altar,  for  general  pacification. 

India  alone  remained  faithful  to  her  ancient  usages,  and  even 
to-day  high  castes  and  Brahmins  partake  only  of  flesh  that  has 
been  consecrated  in  the  temple. 

Thus  have  all  ancient  ci\'ilizations  proceeded  from  each 
other;  and  thus,  in  comparing  their  habitual  usages  in  the 
most  minute  details  of  Hfe,  do  we  discover  that  community  of 
origin  which,  so  far  from  being  a  paradoxical  idea,  is  the  ine^t- 
able  and  logical  result  of  the  laws  which  govern  human  devel- 
opment. 

Catholic  opinion,  which  persists  in  seeing  in  ancient  Hebrew 
usages  a  type  of  the  New  Church,  explains  tliis  chapter  of  Le- 
viticus in  another  manner. 

According  to  it,  these  prohibitions  were  simply  established 
by  God,  to  prevent  the  Jews  from  offering  sacrifices  elsewhere 
than  at  the  Tabernacle. 

I  would  have  it  remarked,  that  the  Bible  employs  this  expres- 
sion :  Homo  quilihet  de  domo  Israeli;  that  is,  any  Israelite  who 
shall  have  slaughtered  an  animal  elsewhere  than  before  the  gate 
of  the  Tabernacle. 

If  a  sacrifice  to  the  Divinity  was  intended,  the  priest  alone 
had  a  right  to  offer  it ;  while,  in  the  form  before  us,  every  He- 
brew has  a  right  to  slaughter  before  the  Tabernacle,  provided 
he  sanctifies  the  act  by  presenting  the  blood  of  the  victim  to 
the  priest,  to  be  sprinkled  on  the  altar  in  sign  of  expiation. 

It  is,  therefore,  only  animals  destined  for  food,  and  not  foi 
purely  religious  ceremonies,  that  are  spoken  of. 

Ante  ostium  Tabernaculi  testimonii  immole?it  eas  hostias  pact- 
ficas.  They  offer  up  their  peace  sacrifices  at  the  entrance  of 
the  Tabernacle. 

Such  is  the  command  to  the  Hebrews. 

Fundetqiie  sacerdos  sanguinem  super  altare  Domini,  The 
priest  sprinkles  the  blood  on  the  altar  of  the  Lord. 

Such  is  the  role  of  the  Levite. 

I  repeat,  if  a  symbolic  sacrifice  to  the  Divinity  was  meanV 


MOSES  AND   HEBREW  SOCIETy;  15/ 

the  pnest  alone  had  a  right  to  offer  up  the  victim,  and  that  not 
at  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle,  but  in  the  interior  temple,  whera 
none  but  himself  might  enter. 

Moreover,  the  explanation  which  we  resist,  can  only  be  ren. 
dered  possible  by  singular  distortions  of  the  text. 

Here  we  have  the  interpretation  of  this  passage  by  the 
Father  de  Carri^re,  in  the  approved  edition  of  the  Bible  before 
us. 

Levitical  text : 

Homo  qui  libet  de  domo  Israel,  si  Occident  bovem,  aut  ovem,  aut  cap- 
ram,  in  castris  vel  extra  castra. 

Et  non  obtulerit  ad  ostuim  Tabemaculi  oblationem  Domino,  sanguinis 
reus  erit,  quasi  si  sanguinem  fuderit,  sic  peribit  de  medio  populi  sui. 

Ideo  sacerdoti  afferre  debent  filii  Israel  hostias  suas  quas  Occident  in  agro, 
ut  sanctificentur  Domino. 

Literal  translation  : 

Every  man  of  the  house  of  Israel  who  shall  have  killed  an  ox,  or  a  sheep, 
or  a  goat,  within  the  camp,  or  without. 

And  who  shall  not  have  offered  it  to  the  Lord  before  the  gates  of  the 
Tabernacle,  shall  be  guilty  of  blood,  and  as  if  he  had  shed  blood,  shall 
perish  midst  his  people. 

For  this  cause  should  the  children  of  Israel  offer  to  the  priest  the  vic- 
tims which  they  have  slain  in  the  fields,  that  they  may  be  sanctified  by  the 
Lord. 

Translation  by  the  Jesuit  Father  de  Carri^re : 

Every  man  of  the  house  of  Israel,  or  of  proselytes  living  amongst  them^ 
whoy  desiring  to  offer  a  sacrifice  to  the  Lord,  shall  with  the  design^  havo 
killed  an  ox,  or  a  sheep,  or  a  goat  in  the  camp,  or  without  the  camp. 

And  who  shall  not  have  presented  it  at  the  entrance  of  the  Tabernacle 
to  be  offered  to  the  Lord,  shall  be  guilty  of  miurder,  and  shall  pcrtsh  in 
the  midst  of  his  people,  as  if  he  had  shed  the  blood  of  a  man. 

For  this  cause  should  the  children  of  Israel  present  to  the  priests  thi 
fledges  they  would  offer  to  the  Lord,  tliat  they  may  offer  them  before  thi 
Ttbernac/e,  instead  of  slaughtering  them  in  thr  fields. 
U 


15'  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

The  italic  passages  exist  not  in  the  text ;  this  loyalty  of  trant 
lation  needs  no  comment.  Let  us,  however,  remark  that  it  if 
precisely  these  unscrupulous  interpolations  that  serve  to  sup- 
port the  pretension  that  Leviticus  was  understood  in  this  chap- 
ter, to  speak  of  animals  offered  purely  in  sacrifice  to  Jehovah, 
and  not  of  those  destined  for  the  food  of  the  people. 

Moreover,  Leviticus,  chap,  vii.,  seems  itself  to  exhaust  the 
question,  when  commanding  that  the  blood  and  the  fat  of  all 
slaughtered  animals,  indiscriminately,  be  offered  to  the  Lord, 
on  pain  of  death ;  and  that  the  breast  and  the  right  shoulder 
of  each  victim,  immolated,  be  given  to  the  priest. 

Incontestibly,  then,  the  question  here  is  of  animals  destined 
for  food,  and  it  is  equally  incontestable  that  we  must  revert  to 
the  extreme  East  for  that  explanation  of  these  customs  which 
the  Bible  affords  us  not. 

Impurity  occasioned  by  the  dead,  and  preservation  from  de- 
filement, according  to  Leviticus,  chap.  xxi. : 

The  Lord  also  said  unto  Moses,  —  Speak  unto  the  priests,  sons  of  Aaron, 
that  they  defile  not  themselves  at  funeral  ceremonies  on  the  death  of  one 
of  their  brethren. 

Unless  ceremonies  for  those  who  are  most  nearly  allied  to  them  by  blood, 
such  as  a  father,  a  mother,  a  son,  a  daughter,  or  a  brother. 

And  a  virgin  sister,  who  has  not  yet  been  married.  But  the  priest  shall 
not  defile  himself,  even  at  the  death  of  the  prince  of  his  people. 

On  these  occasions  the  priests  shall  not  shave  their  heads,  nor  the> 
beards,  nor  make  incisions  in  their  flesh. 

They  shall  preserve  themselves  pure  for  God,  and  shall  defile  not  hv« 
name,  for  they  present  incense  to  the  Lord,  and  offer  the  bread  of  their 
God,  for  this  cause  should  they  remain  undefiled. 

Leviticus,  chap,  xxii: 

The  Lord  spake  again  unto  Moses  and  said : 

Speak  to  Aaron  and  to  his  sons  that  they  be  careful,  when  defiled,  not  to 
touch  the  sacred  oblations  of  the  children  of  Israel  to  soil  that  which  thef 
offer  Me  and  which  is  consecrated  to  Me,  for  I  am  the  Lord. 

Say  unto  them  and  to  their  posterity:  whatsoever  man  of  your  raci 


MOSE5  AND    HEBREW  SOCIETY.  15^ 

being  impure,  shall  approach  such  things  as  have  been  offered  by  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  to  the  Lord,  and  have  been  consecrated  to  him,  shall  perish 
Defore  the  Lord. 

The  man  of  the  race  of  Aaron,  who  shall  be  leprous,  or  who  sliall  suffer 
what  should  only  occur  in  the  use  of  Marriage,  shall  not  eat  of  what  has 
been  sanctified  unto  Me,  imtil  he  shall  be  healed.  Who  shall  touch  a  man 
defiled  by  the  touch  of  a  corpse,  or  of  a  man  suffering  what  should  only 
occur  in  the  use  of  marriage. 

Or  who  shall  touch  any  crawling  thing,  and  generally  all  that  is  impure 
«nd  that  may  not  be  touched  without  defilement,  shall  be  unclean  until  the 
evening,  and  shall  not  eat  of  consecrated  things  before  washing  his  body  in 
water. 

Then,  after  sunset,  being  purified,  he  shall  eat  of  consecrated  things,  as 
the  only  food  permitted  him. 

They  shall  not  eat  of  the  beast  that  hath  died,  or  been  killed  by  another 
beast,  with  such  food  they  shall  not  defile  themselves. 

Let  them  keep  my  precepts,  that  they  fall  not  into  impurity,  and  that 
they  die  not  in  the  sanctuary  after  having  defiled  it,  for  I  am  the  Lord  who 
sanctify  them. 


Were  it  not  for  our  habit  of,  for  the  most  part,  reading  the 
Bible  without  troubling  ourselves  to  understand  its  sense,  we 
should  long  since  have  perceived  and  become  satisfied  that  it 
is  but  a  jumble  of  ancient  mysteries,  of  which  the  initiated 
alone  held  the  keys,  and  of  the  most  vulgar  superstitions  of 
Egypt 

The  two  passages  above  cited  require  some  development  be- 
fore following  them  up  with  their  Hindoo  begotten  ordinances. 

Chap.  xxi.  ordains  that  priests  shall  not  assist  at  mortuary 
ceremonies,  which  are  defiling. 

It  is  only  permitted  them  to  preside  at  funerals  of  near 
relations,  carefully  abstaining  always  from  what  may  defile 
them. 

There  is  no  exception  to  this  funeral  rule,  even  at  the  death 
of  a  prince  of  the  people. 

Chap.  xxii.  forbids  priests  while  impure,  to  touch  things  holy, 
that  is  while  leprous,  afi*ected  with  certain  maladies,  or  soiled 
by  the  touch,  direct  or  indirect,  of  the  dead,  or  by  touch  of 


X60  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

things  that  crawl  upon  the  ea:th,  and  generally  of  impure  thing% 
according  to  the  words  of  Leviticus. 

And  this  is  what  they  would  have  us  accept  as  a  Divine  rev 
elation.  The  priest  is  defiled  who  attends  his  fellow-creature  to 
his  last  home.  The  priest  is  defiled  by  contact,  direct  or  indi« 
rect,  with  the  dead.  The  priest  is  impure  because  an  involun- 
tary sufferer  from  disease.  The  priest  is  impure  from  contact 
with  crawling  animals.  What  a  singular  collection  of  ridiculous 
superstitions,  and  how  we  should  shrug  our  shoulders  with  pity 
on  meeting  such  things  in  the  theology  of  some  savage  people 
of  Oceanica ! 

What !  could  such  utterances  have  fallen  from  the  mouth  of 
God !  The  Supreme  Being  but  manifested  himself  to  men  to 
constrain  them  to  such  singular  practices ! 

I  can  understand  that,  to  a  certain  extent,  all  this  may  have 
been  good  for  this  people  of  Israel,  brutified  by  servitude,  and 
who,  in  their  emancipation,  but  distinguished  themselves  in 
brigandage  and  murder ;  but  to  require  us  at  this  time  of  day 
to  bend  the  knee  to  such  absurdities  would  be,  I  hesitate  not 
to  proclaim,  to  despair  forever  of  the  sound  preceptorship  of 
numan  reason. 

Fortunately  there  is  nothing  easier  than  to  show  this  revela 
tion  that  it  revealed  nothing,  and  to  prove  that  Moses  did 
nothing  more  than  continue  the  traditions  of  the  East,  and 
to  institute  the  Levites  on  the  model  of  Hierophants  and  Brah- 
mins. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  in  the  Bible  of  the  Hebrew  legislator, 
that  is,  in  the  five  books  attributed  to  him,  that  very  little  is  sawi 
about  the  impurities  of  vice,  or  if  you  prefer  it,  of  sin.  All  de- 
filement comes  from  impure  contact. 

Touch  not  the  dead,  nor  a  creeping  thing,  nor  a  diseased  per- 
son, you  shall  perish  before  the  Lord. —  Peribit  coram  Domino, 

This  system  of  impurities  cleansed  by  ablutions,  cum  laverii 
carnem  suam  aqua^  is  a  simple  code  of  sanitary  regulatioa 
adopted  by  all  the  peoples  of  Upper  Asia,  by  all  the  people! 
of  the  East ;  and  the  Jehovah  of  Moses  is  no  more  the  revealeii 


MOSES   AND   HEBREW  SOCIZTV.  l6l 

tfian  MahDmet,  who  also  placed  ablutions  (so  necessary  in  those 
climates)  under  the  rule  of  religion. 

But  ancient  legislators  found  it  necessary  to  make  cleanliness 
imperative  upon  the  indolent  inhabitants  of  a  burning  soil,  and 
Moses,  who  attributes  these  legulations  to  God  himself,  is  the 
only  one  who  leaves  not  even  a  hint  of  their  motive,  without 
which  they  are  absurd. 

The  following  prohibition  may  in  fact  be  pronounced  worse 
than  absurd : 

''^  Et  ad  omnem  mortuum  non  ingreditur  omiiino  ;  super  pair 6 
quoque  stw  et  matre  non  contaminabitur.  And  he  shall  never 
come  near  any  dead  person,  whatever,  be  it  even  father  or 
wnother,  for  he  shall  be  defiled." 

I  am  quite  aware,  it  will  be  said  that  I  do  not  comprehend 
the  Bible,  that  in  all  this  there  is  a  figurative  meaning  that  I  do 
not  catch,  because  my  eyes  have  not  been  opened  by  the  light 
of  faith  ;  that  these  customs  are  but  typical,  and  tliis  purity  ex- 
acted from  the  ancient  Levites  is  but  figurative  of  the  purity 
essential  to  the  priests  of  the  new  church. 

I  know  all  the  opinions  of  Father  de  Carri^re  and  others, 
and  of  their  disciples,  and  I  also  know  their  system  of  translat- 
ing and  of  torturing  texts,  now  that  they  may  no  longer  torture 
heretics. 

It  would  be  too  absurd  to  expect  us  to  believe  that  all  the 
customs,  the  usages,  the  habits  of  life  of  a  people,  had  been  in« 
spired  by  God  as  an  emblem,  a  figure,  a  prediction  of  a  religion 
which  it  was  his  intention  to  establish  at  some  later  date. 

Oh  !  no  sirs,  we  cannot  accept  your  ideas.  For  God  is  not 
the  unskilful  workman,  whose  first  rude  work  requires  retouch- 
ing, and  when  creating  us,  with  that  mysterious  object  which  we 
shall  only  know  in  another  life,  he,  in  shedding  upon  us  a  spark 
of  his  Divine  Majesty,  bestowed  upon  us  a  belief  the  most  sub* 
lime  —  and  universal  conscience  holds  fast  its  recollection. 

Away,  then,  with  that  Hebrew  revelation  which  reason  can 
never  ax:cept ;  and  believs  that  the  sublime  and  touching  tioraU 


r6a  1HE   BIBLE    IN   INDIA. 

of  Chdst  needs  no  such  precursors  as  the  superstitions  left  ai 
popular  pabulum  by  the  initiated  of  ancient  times. 

Manou,  the  Vedas,  and  Ramatsariar,  the  commentator,  on 
defilement  occasioned  by  the  dead. 

Manou,  lib.  v. : 

*•  The  defilement  occasioned  by  a  corpse  has  been  declared  to  last  ten  day! 
for  those  who  preside  at  the  fureral  ceremonies,  imtU  the  bones  are  collected. 
(We  know  that  Hindoos  practise  cremation.) 

**  The  defilement  occasioned  by  death  extends  to  all  relations.  In  one  day 
and  one  night  added  to  three  times  three  nights,  the  near  relations  of  the  de- 
funct, who  have  touched  the  corpse  are  purified,  and  three  days  are  neces- 
sary for  distant  relations. 

"The  disciple  who  accomplishes  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  his  spiritual 
directors  is  only  cleansed  after  ten  nights,  he  is  placed  in  the  same  rank  as 
relations  who  have  borne  the  corpse. 

"For  male  chilrlren  (of  the  priestly  caste)  who  die  before  tonsure,  the 
purification  is  one  night ;  but  if  they  have  received  the  tonsure,  a  purifica- 
tion of  three  nights  is  required. 

*•  A  child  dead  before  the  age  of  two  years  without  tonsure,  should  be 
transported  by  his  parents  to  consecrated  ground,  without  cremation,  and 
the  parents  undergo  a  purification  of  three  days. 

"A  dwidja,  if  the  companion  of  his  noviciate  die,  is  unclean  for  one 
day. 

"The  maternal  relations  of  betrothed  girls  not  yet  married,  who  die,  are 
purified  in  three  days.  The  paternal  relations  are  purified  in  the  same  man  • 
ner ;  let  them  bathe  during  three  days. 

**  If  a  Brahmin,  learned  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  die,  aU  who  approach* 
Iiim  are  defiled  for  three  nights  only. 

"If  a  King  die,  all  who  approach  him  are  defiled  while  the  day-light  lasts, 
if  he  die  during  the  day ;  and  while  the  star-light  lasts  if  dead  during  the 
night." 

Such  in  substance  are  the  funeral  rules  of  impurity  for  those 
who  touch  the  dead.  Let  us  now  see  in  what  consists  the  im- 
purity of  the  priest,  and  in  what  manner  he  should  purify  him- 
self from  contact  with  the  dead. 

Extract  from  the  Veda  (precepts) : 

••  The  Brahmin,  who  has  received  the  sacred  investiture,  and  who  is  thereby 
destined  to  offer  sacrifices  and  expoimd  the  Holy  Scriptmes,  should  abstaii 


MOSES  AND  HEBREW  SOCIETY.  1 63 

from  all  contact  with  the  dead,  for  the  dead  defile,  and  the  ofBciatmg  priest 
•hoiJd  be  always  pure. 

**  The  sight  even  of  an  impure  person  defiles  him,  and  he  should  after  the 
presciibed  ablution,  recite  in  a  low  voice,  the  prayers  that  efface  defile- 
ment. 

**  But  the  Brahmin  who  performs  the  funeral  ceremonies  at  the  death 
of  his  father  and  of  his  mother  is  not  defiled,  for  the  Lord  of  all  things  has 
said,  *  Who  honors  his  father  and  his  mother  in  this  life,  and  sacrifices  at 
their  death  which  is  their  birth  in  God,  can  never  be  impure.' 

*•  If  he  ofl&ciates  at  the  funeral  of  his  brothers  and  his  sisters  who  have 
not  yet  found  husbands,  he  shall  be  impure  vmtil  the  end  of  the  ceremony, 
and  shall  purify  himself  by  prayer  and  ablutions  until  the  second  setting  oi 
the  siJi. 

"  While  unclean  let  him  never  enter  the  temple  to  offer  sacrifice  of  Sor- 
wamedJia  or  of  Aswanuda^  the  sacrifice  he  shall  offer  will  be  impure. 

"  Let  him  assist  at  royal  funerals,  let  him  sanctify  them  by  his  prayers, 
but  let  him  not  touch  the  corpse," 

Abandoning,  then,  these  regulations  of  personal  defilement, 
which  to  it  appear  but  secondary,  the  Veda  continues  from  a 
lofty  standard  never  attained  by  the  Bible  : 

"The  truly  wise,  twice  regenerated,  who  live  in  constant  contemplatioa 
of  God,  can  be  defiled  by  nothing  in  this  world. 

**  Virtue  is  always  pure,  and  he  is  virtue. 

"Charity  is  always  pure,  and  he  is  charity. 

"  Prayer  is  always  piure,  and  he  is  prayer. 

**  Good  is  always  pure,  and  he  is  good. 

**The  Divine  essence  is  always  piure,  and  he  is  a  portion  of  the  Divine 
essence. 

*•  The  Sim's  ray  is  always  pure,  and  his  soul  is  like  a  ray  of  the  sxm  that 
vivifies  all  around  it. 

"  Even  his  death  defiles  not,  for  death  is  for  the  sage,  twice  regenerated, 
•  second  birth  in  the  bosom  of  Brahma." 

Ramatsariar  (commentary  on  the  Veda) : 

"  The  person  becomes  defiled  fi-om  impure  contact  with  the  dead,  and 
with  all  things  which  the  law  hath  delcared  impure. 
"The  sold  is  defiled  by  vice, 
**  These  laws  of  personal  impurity  were  established  by  him  who  exists  by 


i64 


THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 


the  sole  power  of  his  own  will,  that  man  may  preserve  his  physical  life,  and 
give  it  health  and  strength  by  ablutions  with  water,  which  is  the  sovereigrn 
purifier. 

**The  impurities  of  the  soul  are  purified  by  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures,  by  expiatory  sacrifices  and  prayer,  &c,  &c. 

"  And  as  saith  the  Divine  Manou,  a  Brahmin  is  pmrified  by  separation 
firom  all  mimdane  affections. 


Fermented  liquors  forbidden 
to  the  Levites  before  enter- 
ing the  tabernacle. —  Leviticus, 
chap.  X : 

"The  Lord  also  said  unto  Aaron : 
You  shall  not  drink  wine,  you  nor 
your  children,  nor  anything  that  in- 
toxicates, when  entering  the  Taber- 
nacle of  the  Testimony,  lest  ye  be 
punished  with  death;  this  precept 
is  eternal,  and  shall  be  followed 
by  all  the  generations  who  succeed 
you, 

"That  ye  may  have  knowledge 
to  discern  what  is  holy  and  what  is 
profane,  what  pure  and  what  im- 
pure. 

"And  that  ye  may  instruct  the 
children  of  Israel  in  the  laws  which 
the  Lord  hath  givsm  them  by  the 
mouth  of  Moses.'' 


Fermented  liquors  forbidden 
to  Brahmins  before  entering 
the  temple.  The  Veda  (ex- 
tract from  the  book  of  pre- 
cepts—  Brahmanas) : 

"Let  the  officiating  Brahmins  ab- 
stain alike  from  spirituous  hquors 
and  the  pleasures  of  love,  before 
confronting  the  Majesty  of  Nature's 
Lord  to  offer  him  the  sacrifice  of  ex- 
piation in  the  Temple. 

"  Spirituous  liquors  beget  drunk- 
enness, neglect  of  duty,  and  they 
profane  prayer. 

**The  Divine  precepts  of  the 
Holy  Scripture  may  not  be  uttered 
by  a  mouth  poisoned  by  drunken- 
ness. 

"  Drunkenness  is  the  worst  of  all 
vices,  for  it  obscures  reason,  which  is 
a  Divine  ray  from  Brahma's  self. 

**The  pleasm-es  of  love  permitted 
amongst  men  and  allowed  to  the 
devotee,  are  forbidden  to  the  priests 
when  preparing  themselves  for  con- 
templation of  the  Great  Governor 
of  the  Universe. 

**  The  Brahmin  may  not  approach 
the  altar  of  sacrifice  but  with  a  soul 
^rgf  in  a  body  undefiled,"*^ 


No  spedal  importance  will,  perhaps,  be  found  in  the  above 


MOSIS  AND  HEBREW  SOOXIY. 


165 


jW-ssages,  considering  that  all  Oriental  religions  have  concurred 
in  proscribing  fermented  potations. 

The  antiquity  of  India  stands  forth  to  establish  its  priority 
of  religious  legislation  in  prohibiting  to  priests  the  use  of 
spirituous  liquors,  and  especially  in  forbidding  the  pleasures  of 
love  when  they  are  about  to  offer  sacrifice. 

This  last  prohibition  has  not  been  adopted  by  the  Bible, 
which  rarely  troubles  itself  with  questions  of  morals,  except 
to  give  lessons  of  immorality. 

This  extract  from  the  Veda,  however,  once  more  demon- 
strates how  much  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  are  inferior  in 
grandeur  of  idea  and  dignity  of  thought,  to  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
ture of  the  Hindoos. 


Marriage    of   priests — De-        Brahminical  institutions,  and 

fects  that    exclude   from   the  marriage  of  priests  according 

priesthood.  —  Leviticus,  chap,  to  tli©  Vedas.  —  Extract  from 

xxi. :  from  Veda  (precepts) : 


**The  priest  shall  marry  a  virgin. 
He  shall  not  marry  a  widow,  or  one 
who  has  been  divorced  or  dishon- 
ored, or  a  vile  person;  but  shall 
take  a  daughter  of  his  tribe. 

**He  shall  not  mingle  the  blood 
of  his  race  with  that  of  the  common 
people,  for  I  am  the  Lord  who 
sanctify  him. 

**The  Lord  spake  again  imto 
Moses,  Speak  again  to  Aaron:  If 
a  man  of  your  family  and  of  your 
race  have  a  spot  upon  his  body, 
he  shall  not  offer  sacrifice  to  his 
God. 

"  And  he  shall  not  approach  the 
ministry  of  the  altar,  if  he  is  blind 
•r  lame,  or  ha.ve  the  nose  too  small, 


**Let  the  Brahmin  marry  a 
yoimg  Brahmin  virgin,  without 
spot,  when  he  shall  have  accon^- 
plished  the  time  of  his  noviciate 
and  received  the  sacred  investi- 
ture. 

"Let  him  not  seek  a  widow,  Ok 
a  girl  of  evil  manners,  or  unhealthy, 
or  of  any  family  that  studies  not 
the  Sacred  Scriptures. 

**  The  wife  whom  he  shall  choose, 
should  be  agreeable  and  well  made, 
her  steps  modest  and  bashful,  her 
face  soft  and  smiling,  her  ^outh 
pure  of  aU  kisses ;  let  her  voice  be 
musical  and  caressing  like  tnat  of 
the  datyhouUf  her  eyes  express 
Lmocence  in  love.     For  it  is  thna 


i66 


THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 


or  crooked,  or  too  large,  or  the 
hand  or  foot  maimed. 

"If  he  be  hump-backed,  or 
blear-eyed,  or  sty  on  his  eye ;  if  he 
have  an  incurable  itch  or  scurvy,  or 
a  hernia. 

"  No  man  of  the  tribe  of  Aaron 
the  priest,  who  hath  a  spot,  shall 
approach  the  consecrated  bread  or 
offer  the  victim  to  the  Lord. 

**  Nevertheless  he  may  eat  of  the 
bread  offered  in  the  sanctuary. 

**But  he  shall  not  enter  vdthin 
t^e  veil  nor  approach  the  altar, 
lur  he  hath  a  spot,  and  must  not 
«)ksfile  my  sanctuary,  I  am  the  Lord 
wlio  sanctify  them." 


that  a  wife  fills  her  house  witi 
joy  and  with  happiness,  and  bringf 
prosperity. 

"Let  him  shun  women  of  im- 
pure and  vulgar  race, — their  con- 
tact shall  defile  him,  and  thus 
shall  he  cause  the  degradation  ol 
his  family. 

"The  woman  whose  words  and 
thoughts  and  person  are  pure  is  a 
celestial  balm. 

"Happy  shall  he  be  whose 
choice  is  approved  by  aU  the 
good.'* 

Manou,  lib.  iii :  — id. 

"It  is  ordained  that  a  devotee 
shall  chose  a  wife  from  his  own 
class. 

"Let  him  take  a  well-formed 
virgin,  of  an  s^eeable  name,  of 
the  graceful  carriage  of  the  swan 
or  of  the  young  elephant;  whose 
body  is  covered  with  a  light  down, 
her  hair  fine,  her  teeth  small,  and 
her  limbs  charmmgly  graceful. 

•'Let  him  shim  those  whose 
families  neglect  the  sacraments, 
who  do  not  produce  male  children, 
or  who  study  not  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, or  whose  parents  are  afflicted 
with  f^^filing  maladies." 


Kamatsariai  (Commentaries) :  — id. 


•*  The  Brahmin  who  marries  a  woman  who  is  not  a  vh-gin,  who  is  a 
mdoWf  or  divorced  by  her  husband,  or  who  is  not  known  as  a  virtuout 
woman  cannot  be  permitted  to  offer  sacrifice,  for  he  is  impure,  and 
nothing  can  cleanse  him  from  Ks  impurities. 

**Itis  not  recorded,"  says  the  divine  Manou,  "neither  by  history,  nor 
by  tradition,  that  a  Brahmin  has  ever,  evea  by  compoHon,  married  t 
prl  of  low  dasa. 


MOSKS  AND  HEBREW  SOCIXIT.  l€f 

**  •  Let  the  Brahmin  espouse  a  Brahminee,*  says  the  Veda. 

"It  is,  tlierefore,  written  that  a  Brahmin  may  not  seek  a  wife  of  low 
extraction  or  of  a  servile  class." 

The  divine  Manou  further  says : 

The  Brahmin  who  shares  the  couch  of  a  Soudra-woman  will  be  excluded 
from  the  celestial  abode. 

"No  purification  is  prescribed  by  the  law  for  him  whos»  \ips  ar« 
soiled  by  the  lips  of  a  Soudra-woman,  and  who  has  inhaled  her  impure 
breath." 


Defects  which  exclude  Brahmin  priests  from  officiating  at 
sacrifice.  —  (Ramatsariar  Commentaries) : 

"  The  Brahmin  affected  with  defiling  diseases,  such  as  leprosy,  elephan- 
tlHsis,  or  the  itch,  may  not  enter  the  temple  to  offer  sacrifice,  for  he  is 
liripure,  and  God  will  not  receive  his  ofTering. 

"He  shall  continue  impure  while  so  affected,  and  for  ten  days  after,  and 
he  shall  purify  himself  by  ablutions  in  the  sacred  tank  of  the  temple,  and 
by  three  aspersions  of  the  water  of  purification. 

"  If  his  malady  be  incurable,  he  shall  be  forever  excluded  from  sacrifice;, 
bi>.t  sliall  have  his  share  of  the  offermgs  of  rice,  honey,  ghee,  com,  and  of 
a^imals  slaughtered  for  sacrifice,  for  the  divine  Manou  had  said,  the 
Brahmin  who  shall  live  upon  imconsecrated  food  shall  be  cursed  in  aU  his 
saccessive  births." 

Thus  we  see  that  the  sacred  books  and  the  theologians 
of  India  suspended  from  sacrifice  and  from  the  temple 
only  those  invalid  Brahmins  who  were  affected  with  iroft- 
tagious  diseases,  and  that  only  until  restored  and  purified. 

Having  copied  the  principle,  the  Bible  exaggerates  its 
application,  and,  as  usual,  with  a  narrowness  of  thought 
approaching  the  ridiculous. 

What  can  we  think  of  this  Jehovah  of  Moses,  who  expel* 
from  his  temple  all  who  have  a  squint  /  or  who  have  the  mis- 
fortune  to  be  bom  with  a  nose  too  large,  or  too  small,  or  a 
(rooked  nose  / 

In  the  light  of  faith,  no  doubt,  will  be  found  the  secref  of 
those    sadly  curious    things  which   so  profoundly   testify  to 


l68  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

the  narrowness  of  thought  and  grovelling  spirit  oi  theii 
author. 

To  found  religious  disability  on  a  squinting  eye,  or  an  ill- 
formed  nose ! 

It  was  well  worth  while  to  abjure  the  superstitions  of  Egypt^ 
and  to  exterminate  the  followers  of  Moloch ! 

But  it  is  high  time  to  desist  from  these  comparison? 
between  Hebrew  and  Hindoo  usages,  not  that  the  ground 
is  wanting,  or  that  texts  fail  us;  but  it  seems  to  us  super- 
fluous so  to  encumber  this  volume,  at  the  expense  of  other 
matters  of  which  it  must  treat. 

Besides,  the  proof  of  the  theory  which  we  mention,  that 
Xs,  that  social  Judaism  was,  as  in  fact  were  all  the  other 
civilizations  of  antiquity,  but  a  Hindoo  emanation  through 
Egypt,  appears  to  us  sufficiently  established  to  justify  us 
in  proceeding  with  the  most  interesting  section  of  our  pro- 
gramme. 

After  general  perusal  of  the  early  parts  of  this  work,  and 
in  the  face  of  affinities  so  conclusive,  would  it  not  be  a 
simple  rejection  of  demonstration,  to  deny  the  influence  of 
primitive  Oriental  societies  upon  all  antiquity,  for  the 
purpose  of  attributing  those  resemblances  to  mere  blind 
chance  ? 

But  two  ways  remain  to  our  adversaries  of  seeking  to 
reverse  these  facts  and  the  conclusions  that  flow  from  them. 

The  first  is,  to  maintain  that  the  influence  upon  ancient 
peoples  attributed  by  us  to  India,  may  just  as  well  nave 
emanated  from  Moses  and  Biblical  revelation. 

The  second  is,  to  question  the  authenticity  of  the  sacred 
books  of  the  Hindoos,  or  at  least  to  assign  them  an  origin 
posterior  to  that  of  Moses. 

These  two  objections  which  I  have  already  heard  pro- 
duced, are  only  important  in  appearance;  but  it  is  only 
fair  that  they  should  be  examined,  and  although  the  early 
pages  of   this  work    were  only  written  to  combat  them,  il 


MOSES   AND   HEBREW  SOCIETY.  169 

remains   to  demonstrate    that  they  are  but   the  result  of  a 
philosophic  and  historic  anachronism. 

This  question  once  disposed  of,  will  so  much  the  more 
brighten  those  sublime  traditior^  of  the  Hindoo  Genesis 
which  we  approach,  and  which  we  are  especially  anxious 
not  to  obscure  by  discussions  that  would  only  tend  to  diminish 
their  interest 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

IMPOSSIBILITY     OF     BIBLICAL      INFLUENCE     ON     THE     ANCIENT 

WORLD. 

Some  Catholic  writers,  with  intelligible  enthusiasm,  have 
sought  to  make  Moses  the  initiator  of  ancient  societies. 

Thinking  men,  who  have  dipped  into  antiquity,  will,  I  think, 
be  of  opinion  that  we  might  safely  deny  this  proposition  the 
honor  of  discussion ;  nevertheless,  a  semblance  of  objection 
might  arise  from  such  pretension. 

Let  us  see,  then,  what  it  is  worth. 

I  can  understand  that  the  influence  of  a  great  nation  —  the 
Roman  empire,  to  wit  —  may  impress  itself  upon  people  sub- 
jugated by  conquest  to  its  laws. 

I  can  understand  that  a  little  people,  —  the  Athenians,  for 
instance, — by  extraordinary  development  of  artistic,  literary, 
philosophic,  and  moral  genius,  may  become  the  model  of  suo- 
15 


I70  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

ceeding  generations,  on  that  grand  highway  of  progress  that 
fertilizes  an  intelligent  world,  and  knows  no  nationality.  Nor 
will  the  ages  of  Pericles  and  of  Augustus  ever  be  expunged 
from  the  scene  of  the  civilized  world. 

Can  Judea  lay  claim  to  a  similar  past  ? 

Where  are  her  great  conquests,  diffusing  far  the  influence  of 
her  name  ? 

Where  are  her  monuments,  —  artistic,  philosophic  and 
literary  ? 

Bom  of  slavery,  progeny  of  the  parias  of  ^gypt,  the  Hebrews, 
long  wandering  as  outcasts  in  the  desert,  rejected  on  all  sides 
by  neighboring  peoples  who  would  neither  accept  their  alliance 
nor  permit  them  a  passage  through  their  countries,  at  last  pre- 
cipitate themselves,  burning,  pillaging,  slaughtering,  like  a  horde 
of  starving  savages,  upon  the  small  tribes  of  Palestine.  Who 
the  Amalekites  ?  Who  the  Canaanites  ?  Who  the  Midianites  ? 
Who  the  Amorites?*  &c.,  &c. 

Such  their  conquests ! 

Never  did  rascal-rout  of  brigands,  of  vagabond  thieves,  so 
flood  their  path  of  ruin  with  blood.  It  is  true  these  outrages 
and  robberies  were  accomplished  in  the  name  of  Jehovah, 
which  for  many  is  even  to-day  a  sufficient  excuse 

In  fact,  this  God  of  Peace  and  Love  never  found  his  wor- 
shippers sufficiently  ferocious,  his  bath  of  blood  sufficiently  full. 
Had  some  unhappy  mothers  and  their  infants  been  spared,  his 
wrath  made  the  heavens  tremble  with  frightful  denunciations 
against  the  Hebrews  who  had  not  fully  executed  his  orders ; 
and  promptly  let  all  the  old  women  and  useless  infants  be 
slaughtered,  let  the  virgins  only  be  preserved. 

Is  it  sufficiently  moral,  curiously  lascivious  enough  ?  I  have 
often  asked    myself   wherefore    the   partisans  of  revelation 


*  Considering  the  necessarily  circumscribed  boundaries  of  th«e  petty 
peoples,  the  Hebrew  horie  of  3,000,000,  as  implied  by  their  own  report, 
must,  with  their  doo^ooo  fi gating  men,  have  ten-fold  out-numbered  tht 
possible  force  of  each  of  their  successive  victims.  —  Translator. 


MOSES   AND   HEBREW  SOCIETY.  1 71 

rejected  the  Koran ;  but  it  is  true  they  would  there  nnd  les- 
sons of  humanity  which  the  Hebrew  Gorgon  has  been  careful 
to  ignore- 
Fortunately  these  scenes  of  carnage  and  turpitude  did  not 
extend  beyond  the  narrow  bounds  of  Judea ;  and  the  ancient 
masters  of  Egypt,  as  well  as  of  Assyria  and  Babylon,  occa- 
sionally bestirred  themselves  to  chastise  these  madmen,  who 
could  never  live  in  peace,  nor  abandon  their  taste  fcr  rapine 
and  pillage. 

It  is  not,  then,  by  such  examples,  that  this  petty  people, 
buried  midst  the  nations  of  antiquity,  and  at  last  absorbed  in 
Roman  conquests,  could  acquire  influential  consideration 

If  we  review  their  degree  of  advancement  in  literature,  phil- 
osophy, arts,  and  science,  we  are  constrained  to  admit  (and 
we  shall  bless  him  who  will  demonstrate  our  error)  that  we  can 
there  discover  naught  but  darkness  the  most  obscure,  and  igno- 
rance the  most  profound. 

No  people  of  earth  have  done  so  little,  produced  so  little, 
thought  so  little.     .     ,     . 

We  rave  over  the  gigantic  proportions  of  Egypt's  colossal 
art,  even  if  its  productions  do  not,  like  those  of  Athens,  com 
mand  admiration  for  beauty  and  sublimity. 

We  have  Hindoo  art,  —  parent  of  that  of  the  entire  East, 
—  distinguished  alike  for  majesty  and  grandeur. 

Modem  explorations  have  exhumed  the  hidden  sculpturefl 
of  Babylon  and  of  Nineveh. 

What  are  the  artistic  remains  of  Judea  ? 

We  know  the  answer. 

The  Hebrews  had  no  art.  Read  the  Bible  and  the  descrip- 
tions of  the  temple  dedicated  to  Jehovah.  The  Hebrews  had 
no  poetry  —  no  literature.     Read  the  Bible. 

Th^  Hebrews  had  no  sciences  —  rioral  or  philosophic. 
Read  the  Bible. 

'Tis  always  the  Bible  — still  the  Bible.  Everything  is  in  tual 
book. 

Well,  then,  frankly,  that  cannot  content  me ;  and,  if  I  must 


17«  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

say  so,  the  most  insignificant  page  of  Plato  or  of  Vyasa,  the 
most  simple  tragedy  of  Sophocles  or  of  Euripides,  a  scena 
from  Sacountala,  a  broken  arm  from  a  statue  by  Phydias,  oz 
a  sculpture  of  Dahouta,  would  be  much  more  instructive 
to  me. 

Do  we  not,  then,  plainly  see,  that  this  people  of  Israel,  bruti- 
fied  by  servitude,  retaining  the  traditions  of  its  desert  wander- 
ings, oppressed  by  a  Levitism  as  sterile  as  it  was  despotic, 
constantly,  moreover,  carried  into  captivity  by  neighboring  na- 
tions, had  neither  the  idea  nor  the  time  to  acquire  a  taste 
for  great  things  ?  Hence,  when  we  speak  of  Hebrew  civiliza- 
tion, we  but  articulate  an  empty  word. 

In  what  resemblances  in  Egypt,  in  Persia,  in  India,  can  we 
detect  the  influence  of  Judea  ?  She  but  resembles  those  coun- 
ttves  in  their  most  vulgar  superstitions. 

The  higher  classes  in  Egypt  and  throughout  the  East,  de' 
voted  themselves  to  the  study  of  sciences,  to  the  pursuit  of 
those  eternal  truths  whose  germ  was  planted  in  the  conscience 
of  mankind.  They  believed  in  the  unity  of  an  all-powerful 
and  protecting  God,  supreme  giver  of  all  good,  image  of  power 
and  of  goodness ;  leaving  to  ignorance  and  slavery,  the  sacri- 
fice of  animals,  the  offerings  of  bread  and  corn,  which  consti- 
tute the  bulk  of  Hebrew  theology.  It  is  too  evident  that  the 
Hebrews  did  but  continue  their  servile  traditions,  and  it  would 
be  too  absurd  to  derive  from  them  the  initiating  animus  of 
ancient  times. 

Did  not  the  Egyptian  and  Hindoo  societies  exist  in  their 
perfection  at  the  moment  when  these  slaves  either  fled  or  were 
driven  out  of  Egypt  into  the  desert  ? 

The  India  of  the  Vedas  had  long  since  said  its  last  word. 
Its  splendor  was  already  paling  into  decay. 

Egypt  was  preparing  to  shake  off  the  sacerdotal  yoke,  to 
throw  herself  into  the  arms  of  kings  —  if  she  had  not  already 
done  so. 

How  coUd  Judea  have  possibly  bequeathed  the  customs, 
the  morals,  the  creeds,  which  she  adopted  precisely  at  thf 


MOSES  .\ND   HEBREW  SOCIETY.  I7j 

moment  when  these  customs,  morals,  and  creeds  were  being 
transformed  and  modified  by  other  peoples  who  had  primitively 
possessed  them?  How  could  she  have  possibly  bequeathed 
them  to  her  precursors  ? 

Were  not  the  Hebrews  in  the  ancient  world  the  very  last 
representatives  of  a  purely  theocratic  regime?  Were  they 
not  the  last  who  retained  those  castes  of  priests  and  Levites., 
who,  on  the  model  of  the  hierophants  of  Egypt,  governed 
the  people  by  mysteries  and  superstitions  the  most  gross,  and 
hesitated  not  to  depose  kings  who  would  not  be  the  slaves  of 
their  will  ? 

The  Israelites  were  the  people  the  most  scorned  of  an- 
tiquity. Neighboring  nations  had  never  forgotten  their  servile 
origin;  and,  accordingly,  when  slaves  were  required,  they 
knew  where  to  procure  them,  by  an  incursion  upon  the  lands 
of  Judea. 

It  needs  but  attentive  perusal  to  demonstrate,  as  we  have  so 
often  repeated,  that  the  Bible  is  not  an  original  book.  None 
of  the  customs  which  it  enjoins  are  its  own.  They  are  all 
found  in  the  more  ancient  civilization  of  Egypt  and  the 
East. 

Will  it  be  said  that  this  book  introduced  animal  sacrifice,  the 
bovine  holocaust,  for  instance,  into  the  world  ?  It  would  be  to 
lie  in  the  face  of  history,  as  to  forget  that  these  sacrifices  were 
common  to  Egypt,  Persia,  India,  long  before  Moses  ordained 
them. 

The  system  of  purification  by  ablutions  is  as  old  amongst 
Asiatic  people,  as  their  world,  and  tlievr  innovation  is  still  im- 
possible. 

Further,  the  Bible  is  so  manifest  an  abridgment  of  ancient 
sacred  books  which  Moses  may  have  seen  at  the  court  of 
Pharaoh,  that  it  constantly  copies  passages  inexplicable  in 
themselves,  but  found  entire  in  those  books  of  Manou  and  the 
Vedas,  which  it  has  forgotten  to  examine. 

Thus  you  constantly  meet  this  prohibition. 

"The  priest  shall  not  'ouch  any  dead  thing,  nor  any  crawling 
15* 


174  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

thing,  nor  anything  that  has  been  declared  impure,  for  he  shall 
be  defiled." 

Where  is  the  special  catalogue  of  impure  things,  of  all  that  he 
is  forbidden  to  touch  on  pain  of  defilement  ? 

It  exists  not  in  the  Bible.  It  speaks  here  and  there  of  cer- 
tain  impurities  of  the  man,  of  the  woman,  and  of  certain 
animals,  but  all  that  is  flooded,  right  and  left,  in  a  confusion  of 
wearisome  repetitions,  from  which  it  is  impossible  to  extricate 
the  idea  that  dictated  the  law. 

In  the  Hindoo  sacred  books,  on  the  contrary,  we  find  a  com 
plete  and  special  catalogue  of  all  conditions  of  defilement,  and 
of  the  objects  that  occasion  it,  with  the  manner  of  purification, 
as  well  as  numerous  explanations  of  the  idea  that  suggested 
such  ordinances. 

Which,  then,  must  be  precursor  of  the  other  ? 

Is  it  the  detailed  doctrine,  the  raison  d'etre  of  India,  on 
these  matters  ?  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  those  fragments  of  the 
Bible,  hurriedly  written,  without  order  and  without  connection, 
and  which  can  only  be  explained  by  reverting  to  those  more 
ancient  societies,  that  afibrd  us  the  key  ? 

That  admits  no  question. 

Will  it  be  said  that  the  Bible  first  presented  the  grand  idea  of 
the  unity  of  God,  which  none  had  before  been  able  to  disen- 
gage from  mysteries  and  superstition  ? 

To  that,  we  answer  that  Moses  did  but  disfigure  the  primi- 
itive  idea  which  he  imbibed  from  Egyptian  theogony,  and  that 
his  Jehovah,  wrathful,  sanguinary,  and  destroyer  of  nations,  far 
from  being  an  improvement,  is  but  a  perversion  of  primitive 
belief. 

Such,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  was  not  India's  conception  of  the 
Sovereign  Master  of  all  tilings. 

I  have  much  more  respect  for  the  Greek  Jupiter  than  for  the 
God  of  Moses ;  for  if  he  gives  some  examples  not  of  the  purest 
morality,  at  least  he  does  not  flood  his  altar  with  streams  of 
human  blood. 


MOSES  AND   HEBREW  SCCIETV.  175 

Will  it  be  said  that  Moses  preserved  to  us  tlie  traditions  of 
man's  creation  and  of  the  flood? 

We  shall  prove  that  he  did  but  obscure  them  with  ridiculous 
fables,  which  in  fact  he  has  never  failed  to  do  with  everything 
that  he  has  touched. 

What  can  we  think  of  that  Arabian  Nights'  tale  which  attri 
butes  to  the  theft  of  an  apple  the  expulsion  of  our  first  parents 
from  paradise,  and  all  the  ills  which  have  since  afflicted 
humanity  ? 

It  must  be  confessed  that  human  wisdom  is  easily  contented : 
but  with  faith  in  such  things  it  does  astonish  me  that  we  should 
presume  to  pity  th-*  ignorant  peoples  who  have  retained  their 
belief  in  sorcerers. 

But  enough!  We  have,  perhaps,  dwelt  too  much  upon  a 
subject  which  could,  of  course,  only  find  supporters  amongst 
the  people  who  have  inscribed  upon  their  flags,  the  device  we 
have  already  encountered  on  our  road — 

Ctedo  quia  absurdum. 


y)rtf  THE   BIBLE  IN  HTDIJU 


CHAPTER  IX. 

AUTHENTICITY  OF  THE    HIDOO   SACRED   BOOKS 

"Prove  to  us  the  authenticty  of  the  Hindoo  sacred  books  — 
if  you  wish  us  to  admit  your  system,"  will  be  said  on  all 
sides. 

With  some  this  demand  will  be  made  in  good  faith,  with 
others  as  a  snare. 

I  explain. 

If  a  European  writer  undertook  to  explain  Moses  and  the 
Bible,  Christ  and  his  mission,  with  the  writings  of  the  Evangel- 
ists, to  Chinese  or  Japanese,  the  logical  amongst  these  people 
would  not  fail  to  reply —  "All  this  is  very  good,  but  prove  to 
us  the  authenticity  of  all  these  people  and  their  works,  for  we 
are  constrained  to  admit  that  we  have  never  even  heard  them 
spoken  of  If  it  concerned  Boudha  or  Confucius,  it  would  be 
altogether  different." 

What  would  our  compatriot  do  ?  To  take  but  a  single  exam- 
ple, he  would  infallibly  thus  express  himself  : 

"You  are  not  acquainted,  learned  Japanese  and  illustrious 
Chinese,  with  the  book  of  our  gospels.  Learn,  then,  that 
nothing  is  more  easy  than  to  prove  'ts  authenticity. 

"  It  is  the  work  of  four  different  authors. 

"The  first,  Saint  John,  wrote  —  " 


MOSES  AND   HEBREW  SOCIETY.  177 

**Stop,  if  you  please,  prove  to  us  first  the  existence  of  this 
man,  and  then  you  will  return  to  his  book." 

"Quite  right.  Saint  John  was  a  fisherman  chosen  b} 
Christ-" 

"Another  name  !  If  you  prove  John  by  Christ,  first  prove 
Christ  —  for  we  know  notliing  of  him  either." 

"I  bow  to  your  sound  reasoning,  magnanimous  Chinese. 
Listen,  then.  In  the  thirt}^-first  year  of  the  reign  of  Augustus, 
a  child,  whose  birth  had  been  predicted  by — " 

"But  it  is  always  the  same  thing,"  promptly  exclaims  the 
Japanese.  "Who,  then,  is  this  Augustus  of  whom  you 
speak?" 

"  You  desire  it  —  be  it  Augustus.  This  prince,  adopted  son 
and  successor  of  Cassar  —  " 

"Ah!  this  is  too  much,"  would  cry  the  Chinese,  in  turn, 
"you  have  a  perfect  mania  for  names.  Could  you  not  prove 
to  us  the  truth  of  your  book  and  its  historical  existence,  with- 
out all  these  gentlemen  of  whom  we  now  hear  for  tlie  first 
time  ?  " 

"Alas,  no  !"  would  reply  our  unfortunate  compatriot,  "and 
I  see  clearly  that  to  arrive  at  the  proof  which  you  demand,  I 
should  be  obliged  to  lay  before  you  a  complete  history  of  the 
ancient  civilizations  of  the  West  And  farther,  with  your 
mania  for  stopping  me  at  each  step  and  at  each  name,  I  should 
inevitably  arrive  at  obscure  points  which  I  could  not  explain, 
at  the  names  of  heroes,  legislators,  and  kings,  for  whom  I  could 
find  no  precursors." 

AVhat,  then,  would  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  do  ? 

The  party  of  good  faith  would  say,  —  "  It  is  true." 

Those  who  had  but  spread  a  snare,  would  turn  to  their  audi- 
tors, saying, — 

"This  man  is  but  mocking  us.  It  is  falshood  that  speaks 
by  his  mouth." 

Let  it  not,  then,  be  expected  that  I  shall  say,  — 

"It  was  the  Eichi  Bhrigou,  whose  epoch  loses  itself  in  tne 
most  remote  ages  of  the  East,  who  first  collected  the  scattered 


178  TE3E   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

laws  of  Manou,  who  already  had  for  many  ages  been  held  in 
honor  throughout  India.  After  hun,  Narada,  who  lived  before 
the  deluge,"  &c.,  &c. 

Or  thus: 

"The  Vedas,  according  to  the  Brahmins,  were  revealed  in 
the  Crida-youga  (first  age),  that  is,  in  the  first  days  of  creation. 
The  first  commentary  on  these  religious  books  dates  back  to 
the  holy  king  Bhagaritha,  contemporary  of  Bhrigou,''  &c., 
&c. 

This  would  be  to  fall  into  the  snare  which  I  have  just  ex- 
posed, and  would  not  fail  to  elicit  cries  of  triumph  fi-om  certain 
camps. 

"  Ha !  ha !  you  mock  us  with  your  Bhrigou,  your  Narada, 
and  your  holy  king,  Bhagaritha.  Who  may  all  these  men  be, 
whom  you  invoke  as  authorities  ?  " 

And  the  trick  would  be  exposed. 

And  as  I  could  not  in  reply  give,  in  a  couple  of  journalist- 
articles,  a  course  of  history  of  all  ancient  civilizations  (a  work 
w^ich  would  require  a  life  of  several  generations),  to  reduce  to 
nothing  the  arguments  of  my  adversaries,  the  book  would  be 
thrown  aside,  without  the  admission  that  it  is  not  my  fault  if  so 
many  people  live  in  uninquiring  ignorance  of  ancient  societies 
th/it  have  preceded  us  upon  earth  by  thousands  of  years ;  — 
without  admitting  that  it  is  not  my  fault  if  Greek  and  Latin  are 
taaght  without  reverting  to  the  motlier-language,  the  Sanscrit ; 
—  if  ancient  history  is  taught  without  reverting  to  the  mother- 
history —  that  of  the  extreme  East. 

The  general  proofs — the  proofs  most  striking  of  the  authen 
ticity  of  the  holy  books  of  the  Hindoos,  I  have  given  in  the 
first  part  of  this  work ;  the  examinations  to  which  I  have  de 
voted  myself  had  no  other  object.  I  have  also  given  them,  in 
my  researches  on  Hebrew  and  Hindoo  societies,  and  in  the 
comparisons  following  them. 

I  have  given  them,  also,  according  to  the  Sanscrit,  the  lan- 
guage in  which  these  books  are  written,  and  which  had  already 


MOSES   AND    HEBREW   SOCIETY.  1 79 

ceased  to  be  in  use,  either  as  a  spoken  or  a  written  language, 
many  ages  before  Moses. 

Moreover,  when  we  find  in  one  country  and  amongst  one 
people,  the  laws,  the  customs,  the  morale^  the  religious  ideas, 
the  poetic  traditions  of  entire  antiquity — are  we  not  justified 
in  maintaining  that  antiquity  must  thence  have  gleaned  its  civil- 
ization ? 

No  one  people  of  this  latter  epoch  exhibited  a  perfect  image 
of  India,  and  consequently  no  one  possessed  the  entire  of  those 
customs  which  we  find  scattered  here  and  there,  right  and  left, 
in  Persia,  in  Egypt,  in  Judea,  in  Greece,  and  at  Rome  —  cus. 
toms  which  India  alone  possessed  complete  and  in  their  integ 
rity. 

And  if  to  all  this  we  further  add  that  primitive  language,  that 
marvellous  language  which  has  formed  not  only  all  the  idioms 
of  the  east,  but  also  the  Greek,  the  Latin,  the  Sclave,  and 
Germanic  languages,  we  have  a  right  to  say  :  Behold  here  the 
proofs  of  that  authenticity  which  we  claim  for  the  sacred  books 
of  the  Hindoos !  Find,  if  you  can,  throughout  the  world,  and 
no  matter  on  what  subject,  proofs  more  impressive  or  more 
palpable,  especially  after  having  braved  the  wreck  of  a  thou- 
sand revolutions,  and  survived  the  ruin  of  as  many  succeeding 
ages. 


tSo  THE   BIBLE    IN  INDUL' 


CHAPTER  X 


SPIRITUALISM  OF  THE   BIBLE. 


This  chapter  will  be  short — embracing  but  a  single  reflection 
•-—but  those  few  lines  may  generate  a  volume. 

I  have  vainly  examined  and  re-examined,  from  every  point 
of  view,  this  work  of  Moses,  whose  sublimity  is  so  lauded,  with- 
out discovering  a  thought,  a  Une,  a  word  containing  the  faintest, 
most  distant,  most  obscure  allusion  to  the  immortality  of  the 
soul. 

In  the  midst  of  this  frantic  revel  of  debauch  and  massacre, 
not  a  cry  to  heaven  refreshes  the  heart,  not  a  hopeful  gleam  of 
a  future  life,  nothing  but  sacrifices  of  oxen,  dismal  superstitions, 
and  streams  of  human  blood  poured  forth  in  the  name  of 
Jehovah  I 


'ifGSES  AND   HEBREW  SOCIEIV.  iSl 


CHAPTER   XI. 


MORALITY  OF  THE   BIBLS. 


One  simple  citation  is  enough. 

Numbers,  chap.  xxxi. : 

"  And  Moses  was  enraged  against  the  chief  officers  of  the 
army,  against  the  tribunes,  and  the  centurions  who  returned 
from  the  battle. 

"  And  he  said  unto  them,  Why  have  ye  saved  the  women 
and  the  children  ? 

"  Slay  therefore  all  the  males  amongst  the  children,  and  the 
women  who  have  been  married.  , 

"  But  reserve  for  youselves  all  the  young  girls  who  are  still 
virgins." 

It 


PART   THIRD. 


THE   HINDvlO   GENESIS.— THE  VIRGIN  DEVANAr 
GUY,  AND   JEZEUS   CHRISTNA. 


CHAPTER  I. 


ZEUS  AND  BRAHMA — RELIGIOUS   COSMICAL  BELIEFS. 

Early  writers  who  occupied  themselves  with  the  Hindoos 
wid  their  religious  dogmas,  ill-instructed,  ignorant  of  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country,  and  influenced  by  pre-adopted  ideas,  de- 
voted themselves  only  to  the  exposure  of  superstitions,  and  of 
ceremonies  which  appeared  to  them  ridiculous,  without  reflect- 
ing that  the  particular  forms  of  a  worship,  apart,  to  a  certain 
extent,  from  the  religious  idea,  vary  according  to  the  imagina- 
tion and  character  of  the  people. 

They  did  not  per«eive  that  they  were  in  a  worn-oat  country 
whose  d^adence  already  dated  back  some  three  or  four  thou- 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  l8j 

Band  years ;  that  the  pure  beliefs  of  prinitive  ages  had  been  re- 
placed by  innumerable  poetic  legends  and  myths,  and  that  it 
was  necessar}'-  to  penetrate  the  interior  of  temples,  to  inquire 
of  tradition,  to  consult  learned  Brahmins,  and  force  from  re- 
cords their  secrets,  to  arrive  at  a  comprehension  of  the  splen- 
dor of  tlie  past  and  the  degradation  of  the  present. 

After  them  come  those  indefatigable  inquirers  —  the  honor 
of  our  age,  such  as  Strange,  Colebrooke,  Weber,  Schlegel, 
Bumouf,  Desgranges,  and  others,  who  exhumed  to  the  eyes  of 
an  astonished  world,  the  primitive  language  from  which  ancient 
and  modem  idioms  are  descended. 

We  began  to  perceive  the  truth  with  regard  to  this  ancient 
country  which  was  the  cradle  of  the  white  race ;  but  until  then 
we  had  but  occupied  ourselves  in  translating  fragments  of  the 
numerous  philosophic  works  and  grand  poems  which  India  had 
bequeathed  us,  rather  than  in  identifying  the  primitive  idea  that 
had  given  birth  to  philosophic  science  and  to  the  religious  myths 
of  poetry. 

The  pure  Hindoo  religion  recognizes  and  admits  but  one 
only  God,  thus  defined  by  the  Veda — "  Him  who  exists  by 
himself,  and  who  is  in  all,  because  all  is  in  him." 

Manou,  annotating  the  Veda,  says  : 

"  Him  who  exists  by  himself,  whom  the  spirit  alone  can  per- 
ceive, who  is  imperceptible  to  the  organs  of  sense,  who  is  with- 
out visible  parts,  eternal,  the  soul  of  all  beings,  and  whom  none 
can  comprehend." 

The  Maha-Barata  also  gives  the  following  definition : 

"  God  is  onCy  immutable,  without  form  or  parts,  infinite,  om- 
nipresent, and  omnipotent ;  He  made  the  heavens  and  the 
worlds  to  spring  forth  from  infinite  void,  and  launched  them 
into  boundless  space ;  He  is  the  divine  mover,  the  great  origi- 
nating essence,  the  efficient  and  material  cause  of  all." 

Let  us  again  hear  the  Vsda,  that  in  a  poetic  burst  exclaims : 

"  The  Ganges  that  flows  — it  is  God ;  the  ocean  that  roars  — 
it  is  God;  the  wind  that  blows — it  is  Hun;  the  cloud  that 
Uvmders,  the  lightning  that  flashes — it  is  Him.     As  from  all 


l84  ^niE    BIBLE    IN   INDIA. 

eternity  the  universe  existed  in  the  spirit  of  Brahma,  so  to-day 
is  all  that  exists  his  image." 

I  do  not  think  that  the  lapse  of  ages,  and  what  we  conven- 
tionally call  the  development  of  the  human  mind,  has  added 
an3rthing  to  these  definitions. 

Hindoo  theologians  distinguish  God  in  two  different  situa- 
tions: 

In  the  first  he  is  Zeus,  that  is,  God,  not  operating,  not  yet  re- 
vealed. 

It  is  of  him  that  the  Pouranas  have  said,  in  their  commenta* 
ries  on  the  holy  books : 

"  Spirit  mysterious  !  force  immense  !  power  immeasurable  ! 
now  was  your  power,  your  force,  your  life  manifested  before  the 
period  of  creation  ? 

"  Didst  thou  sleep  like  an  extinguished  sun  in  the  bosom  of 
decomposing  matter  ?  Was  that  decomposition  in  thee,  or  didst 
thou  ordain  it  ?  Wert  thou  chaos  ?  Wert  thou  life,  compre- 
hending in  thee  all  the  lives  that  had  fled  the  strife  of  destroy- 
ing elements  ?  If  thou  wast  life,  thou  wast  also  destruction,  for 
destruction  comes  from  action,  and  action  existed  not  without 
thee. 

"  Hadst  thou  cast  the  mouldering  worlds  into  a  fiery  furnace 
lo  purify  and  reproduce  them  from  decomposition  ;  as  the  de- 
caying tree  is  bom  again  from  its  seed  which  developes  its 
germ  in  the  bosom  of  rottenness  ? 

"  Did  thy  spirit  float  upon  the  waters ;  since  thou  art  called 
Narayana  ?  " 

This  name  of  Narayana  furnishes  another  instance  of  singu- 
lar affinity  of  expression  with  the  Bible — further  proof  to  be 
added  to  all  the  others  of  the  Hindoo  origin  of  that  book. 

Let  us  first  explain  the  word,  but  let  Manou  speak  (Book 
ist). 

"The  waters  have  been  named  Naras  because  they  were  the 
production  of  Nara  (in  Sanscrit,  the  Divine  Spirit),  these  waters 
having  been  the  first  scene  of  Nara's  unquiescence  (in  Sanscrit^ 


HIinKX)  GENESIS.  1 85 

Ay  ana).  He  (Brahma)  was  in  consequence  named  Naiftyana 
—  him  who  moves  upon  the  waters." 

Bible,  Genesis,  chapter  i. 

"  Terra  autem  erat  inanis  et  vacua. 

"  Et  spiritus  Deiferebatur  super  aqtias." 

"  The  earth  was  unformed  and  naked. 

"  And  the  spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  waters." 

Nara,  the  divine  Spirit ;  Ayana,  that  moves  himself  (en  the 
waters) ;  Spiritus  Dei,  the  divine  Spirit ;  ferebatur  super  aquas, 
was  borne  upon  the  waters  ! 

Is  it  sufficiently  clear,  sufficiently  evident  ?  Could  book  or 
Bible  be  more  distinctly  caught  in  the  act  of  imitation  ? 

There  remains  but  one  mode  of  escape,  it  is  to  deny  the  San- 
scrit :  nothing  is  impossible,  but  we  shall  see. 

In  the  second  situation  Zeus  becomes  Brahma,  that  is  God 
revealed,  and  operating,  God  the  Creator. 

Again,  let  the  Pouranas  speak : 

"When  Brahma  passed  from  inaction  to  action,  he  came,  not 
to  create  nature,  which  existed  from  all  time  in  its  essence  and 
its  attributes  in  his  immortal  thought,  he  came  to  develop  it 
and  to  arrest  dissolution. 

"  O  God,  creating  Father,  in  what  form  clothest  thou  thyself, 
in  action  ?  the  works  of  thy  grandeur,  of  thy  powerful  wdll,  as- 
tonish our  perceptions  ;  the  ocean  raises  its  furious  billows  and 
subsides,  the  thunder  resounds  and  is  still,  the  wind  moans  and 
it  passes,  man  is  born  and  diss,  everywhere  do  we  feel  thy  hand 
which  protects  and  commands,  but  we  can  neither  comprehend 
it,  nor  see  it." 

Must  we  deny  first  cause  ?  Who  has  ever  dreamt  of  deny- 
ing his  thought,  because  he  cannot  see  it  ? 

I  don't  know  if  those  gentlemen  of  Rome  will  find  all  this 
sufficiently  orthodox ;  for  me,  I  feel  myself  penetrated  with  an 
admiration  beyond  comparison,  for  those  sacred  books  which 
give  me  an  idea  of  God  so  grandiose^  and  so  free  from  all  tliose 
imperfections  with  which  certain  men  have  surcharged  it  in  othcf 
16* 


l86  THE    BIBLE    IN    INDIA. 

climes,  in  attributing  to  him  their  own  thoughts,  ar.4  above  all 
in  making  the  Supreme  Being  the  auxiliary  of  their  ambitions. 

According  to  Hindoo  belief,  matter  is  subject  to  the  same 
laws  of  existence  and  decomposition  as  vegetables  and  animals ; 
after  a  certain  period  of  life,  comes  the  period  of  dissolution, 
everything  decays,  all  returns  to  chaos :  the  harmony  of  worlds 
is  at  an  end — air,  earth,  water,  light,  commingle  and  become 
extinct :  it  is  the  Pralaya,  or  destruction  of  all  that  exists ;  but 
there  is  a  germ  which  purifies  itself  by  repose,  until  the  day 
when  Brahma  again  comes  to  develop  it,  to  give  it  Hfe,  the 
creative  power,  and  to  produce  the  worlds,  which  commence 
little  by  little,  to  form,  to  grow,  and  to  operate,  again  to  en- 
t;ounter  a  new  decomposition,  followed  by  the  same  repose  and 
by  the  same  regeneration. 

Intrinsic  law  of  matter,  which  fades  by  existence,  grows  old 
and  dies  —  but  is  restored  and  vivified  by  God. 

Astonishing  fact !  The  Hindoo  revelation,  which  proclaims 
the  slow  and  gradual  formation  of  worlds,  is  of  all  revelations 
the  only  one  whose  ideas  are  in  complete  harmony  with  modern 
science ! 

If  Moses  in  his  intercourse  with  the  priests  of  Egypt  knew  of 
these  sublime  traditions,  we  must  suppose  that  he  considered 
them  too  lofty,  too  much  above  the  intelligence  of  the  slave- 
people  whom  he  had  to  direct,  to  be  communicated  to  them. 
Perhaps,  also,  as  we  have  already  conjectured,  he  may  himself 
have  been  only  partially  initiated  in  Egypt. 

The  period  of  action  and  re-construction  of  the  worlds  occu- 
pies, according  to  the  Veda,  one  entire  day  of  Brahma — and 
that  day  corresponds  to  four  millions  three  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  human  years. 

The  Pralaya,  or  epoch  of  dissolution,  lasts  one  entire  night 
of  Brahma,  and  that  night  is  equal  to  the  same  number  of 
human  years  as  the  divine  day. 

These  doctrines  of  holy  books  on  the  destruction  and  re-con- 
struction of  worlds,  have  given  birth  to  a  crowd  of  philosophic 
systems  which  we  have  neither  the  time  nor  the  desire  here  to 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  1S7 

stiidy.  We  shall  be  content  to  indicate  the  two  theories  which, 
in  all  times,  divided  the  theological  schools  of  India  on  this 
subject. 

The  first  maintains  that  the  germ  of  matter,  once  fecundated 
by  Brahma,  the  phenomena  of  transformation  operate  sponta- 
neously, and  without  direct  participation  of  God,  in  accordance 
with  the  eternal  and  immutable  laws  which  he  has  created. 

Matter,  in  precipitating  itself  from  its  centre,  from  its  gener- 
ating focus,  subdivides  and  gravitates  in  space;  all  particles 
are  compressed,  light  is  generated,  the  smallest  fragments  dry, 
the  vapors  which  exhale  produce  atmospheric  air  and  water. 
The  fragments  become  habitable  worlds 

Gradually  all  the  other  particles,  according  to  their  magni- 
»lude,  become  extinguished  in  their  turn ;  but  in  proportion  as 
they  become  habitable,  heat  and  light  diminish,  until  having 
wholly  disappeared — Matter,  deprived  of  its  most  active  agents 
of  life  and  reproduction,  falls  back  into  chaos,  into  the  night  of 
Bralima. 

Tliis  opinion,  which  is  not  contradicted  by  the  Veda,  is  never- 
theless attacked  by  the  orthodox,  who  accord  to  divine  influence 
a  more  active  role. 

They  recognize  perfectly  that  it  is  thus  nature  develops  her- 
self, the  elements  fonn  themselves;  all  the  phenomena  of 
existence  accomplish  themselves ;  that  the  worlds  and  matter 
thus  likewise  end,  and  lose  themselves  in  the  night  of  Brahma. 

But,  according  to  them,  God  is  the  supreme  law  of  all  these 
phenomena,  and  exists  in  that  law.  He  presides  constantly 
at  all  these  transformations,  which  would  promptly  cease  to 
pursue  their  course,  should  he  happen,  even  for  an  instant,  to 
suspend  his  direction,  to  withdraw  his  support. 

Brahmin  priests  cannot  receive  ordination  without  first  de- 
claring themselves  partisans  of  this  latter  system,  which  is 
considered  to  be,  much  more  than  the  first,  in  the  religious 
spirit 

The  book  of  Moses,  occupied  solely  with  coarse  fact,  pays 
no  attention  to  these  theories,  which  form  the  basi^  of  Oriental 


}88  THE   BIBLE  tS  UWtK 

theology.    Modern  religions  have  placed  them  among  theii 
mysteries. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  AWAKENING  OF  BRAHMA CREATION  OF  DEVAS,  OR  ANGELS 

THEIR  REVOLT THE  VANQUISHED  ARE    CAST    INTO   HELL 

UNDER  THE  NAME  OF  RAKCHASOS  OR  DEMONS. 

We  have  declared  that  it  was  from  India  emanated,  by  emi- 
grations, all  the  religious  myths  at  the  base  of  all  religions, 
ancient  and  modern  ;  and  certainly  not  without  interest  will  bi? 
read  this  legend  of  the  Vedas,  which  has  been  adopted  unaltered 
by  Christianity,  without  indicating  the  source  whence  it  wai 
drawn. 

As  the  night  of  Brahma  approached  its  end  before  proceed- 
ing to  create  this  world,  and  to  cover  it  with  plants  and  animals, 
the  Lord  of  all  things  having  divided  the  heavens  into  twelve 
parts,  resolved  to  people  them  with  beings  proceeding  from 
Himself,  and  to  whom  he  might  confide  some  of  His  attributes 
and  a  portion  of  his  power. 

"  And  having  said  :  I  will  that  the  heavens  people  themselves 
with  inferior  spirits  who  shall  obey  me,  and  testify  to  my  glory, 
the  angels  sprung  forth  from  His  thought,  and  hastened  to 
arrange  themsel\es  around  His  throne." 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  189 

As  these  spirits  were  created  in  a  hiemrchic  oirder  of  power 
and  perfection,  God  followed  the  same  rule  in  assigning  to  each 
his  dwelling ;  He  placed  the  most  perfect  among  the  angels  in 
the  heavens  nearest  Himself,  and  the  others  in  the  heaven? 
more  distant. 

But  scarcely  had  He  given  His  order  when  a  violent  quarrel 
arose  in  heaven,  the  inferior  spirits  who  had  been  assigned 
habitations  in  the  most  distant  heavens,  refused  to  go,  and 
having  placed  Vasouki  at  their  head,  who  had  first  excited 
them  to  revolt,  they  fell  upon  the  better  endowed  Devas  to 
seize  the  heritage  assigned  them. 

These  last,  having  ranged  themselves  under  the  banner  of 
Indra,  bravely  sustained  the  snock,  and  the  battle  was  waged 
itt  the  presence  of  Brahma,  who  did  nothing  to  stop  it. 

Vasouki  having  been  overthrown  by  Indra,  all  his  compan 
ions,  terrified,  abandoned  him,  declaring  themselves  ready  to 
submit  to  the  will  of  Brahma ;  but  he,  irritated  by  their  disobe- 
dience, chased  them  from  heaven,  and  interdicting  equally 
earth  and  the  other  planets,  left  them  only  hell  for  a  dwelling 
place.  And  he  named  them  Rakchasos,  that  is  to  say,  the 
cursed. 

Hence  are  bom  all  those  demons,  who,  under  the  name  of 
Pakchasos,  Nagas,  Sarpas,  Pisatches,  and  Assouras,  officiate  in 
Hindoo  poetry,  which  represents  them  as  unceasingly  disturb- 
ing the  sacrifices  and  devotions  of  mortals,  who  are  obliged  to 
call  in  the  ievas  or  angels,  as  well  as  holy  personages,  to  their 
succor. 

Hence  also  the  myth  of  the  archangel  Michael !  It  did  not 
astonish  me  to  find  this  legend  in  India. 

I  had  long  considered  unworthy  of  the  Supreme  Being  this 
creation  of  a  sort  of  demi-gods,  who,  scarce  emerged  from 
naught,  rise  in  opposition  to  the  divine  authority,  and  under  its 
eyes,  engage  in  a  contest  instigated  by  pride  and  the  ambition 
to  equal  his  power. 

Before  understanding  India  and  its  received  myths,  from 
which  hav<5  sprung  all  the  others,  I   akeady  knew  that  all 


TpO  THE  BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

ancient  mythologies  had  admitted  this  levolt  of  the  first  created 
beings  against  the  Creator,  and  that  it  was  thus  they  accountea 
for  the  descent  of  the  spirit  of  evil  upon  earth. 

The  struggle  of  the  Titans  against  Jupiter,  in  the  Greek 
Olympus,  had  certainly  no  other  significance  than  to  explain 
the  birth  of  good  and  of  evil,  and  the  influence  of  these  two 
principles  on  nature. 

Only,  Greek  mythology,  derived  from  India,  through  Asia,  — 
unconscious  of  primitive  beliefs  and  the  Vedas,  was  but  an 
emanation  of  poetic  legends,  which  infinitely  subdivided  the 
ancient  proem ;  whereas  Christianity  recovered  in  Egypt  the 
primitive  tradition,  free  from  the  exaggerations  invented  by 
Oriental  imagination. 

But,  ignoring  India,  we  may  still  say  that  Hebrew  and  Chris- 
tian revelations  revealed  nothing ;  what  does  it  signify,  in  fact, 
whether  you  call  the  revolters  against  God,  Titans  or  Angels  ? 
it  can  only  provoke  a  contest  about  words ;  the  principle  and 
the  idea  are  the  same. 

Primitive  men,  witnessing  the  existence  of  evil  amongst 
them,  too  often,  unhappily,  triumphant  over  the  good,  would 
have  sought  also  to  explain  it ;  and  unable  to  assign  it  to  God, 
who  idealized  the  good,  they  could  only  find  its  origin  in  a 
struggle  of  the  first  creature  produced  by  his  goodness,  against 
God  himself. 

Be  this  at  it  may,  from  India  alone  came  the  antique  tradc- 
tion  which  we  find  the  same  in  the  Nosks  of  Zoroaster,  and 
which  seems  but  to  have  been  imagined  as  an  explanation  of 
these  two  principles,  of  good  and  evil,  which  divide  the  world. 

Untrammelled  thought,  in  purifying  and  simplifying  its  be- 
lief, must  reject  this  myth  as  inconsistent  with  the  dignity  of 
God,  his  prescience,  and  his  sovereign  power. 

The  more  we  reject  imagination  and  poetry,  the  more  will 
©ur  idea  of  the  Creator  become  w*orthy  of  him. 

Let  us  not  seek  the  origin  of  evil  elsewhere  than  in  the 
weakness  of  human  nature:  there  begins  the  mystery;  it  is 
there  that  we  can  no  longer  comprehend  the  motives  of  the 


HINDCO   GENESIS.  I9I 

Supreme  Being.  But  instead  of  explaining  them  by  absurd 
fables,  or  denying  them  by  an  opposite  excess,  let  us  abstain 
and  confide  in  the  inexhaustible  goodness  of  Him  who  has  not 
thought  it  expedient  to  initiate  as  in  his  designs. 

If  the  light  He  has  given  us  be  weak,  let  reason  fearlessly 
follow  it !  Demi-gods,  revelateurs,  and  prophets,  have  given 
us  nothing,  taught  us  nothing,  which  that  light  had  not  given, 
and  taught,  before  them.  And,  if  we  owe  them  anything,  it  is 
for  the  efforts  made  by  themselves  and  their  successors  to 
extinguish  the  healthy  doctrines  of  free  will  and  conscience. 


CHAPTER    III. 

tONDOO  TRINITY  —  ITS  r6lE  —  CREATION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

When  the  period  of  the  "Pralaya"  (dissolution)  was  com. 
plete,  Brahma,  according  to  the  expression  of  Manou,  appeared 
resplendent  in  the  eclat  of  his  purity^  and  diffusing  his  own 
splendor,  dissipated  obscurity,  and  developed  nature,  having 
resolved,  in  his  own  thought,  to  produce  all  creatures  from  his 
substance. 

Bagaveda-Gita  : 

"When  the  profound  night,  during  which  the  germ  of  all 
things  was  regenerating  itself  in  the  bosom  of  Brahma,  dis- 
persed, an  immense  hght  pervaded  infinite  space,  dnd  the  celes- 
tial  spirit  appeared  in   all    the   strength  and  power  of  hit 


193  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

Majesty  :  at  sight  of  him  chaos  was  changed  into  a  fruitful 
womb,  about  to  bring  forth  the  worlds,  the  resplendent  stars, 
the  waters,  the  plants,  animals,  an/i  man." 

At  the  moment  when  Zeus,  unrevealed,  unoperating,  be- 
came Brahma,  that  is,  the  operating  and  creating  God,  three 
persons  reveal  themselves  in  him  to  aid  in  his  work,  without, 
however,  affecting  his  unity. 

This  divine  Trimourti  (Trinity),  say  the  Brahmins  and  the 
sacred  books,  is  indivisible  in  essence,  and  indivisible  in  action 
—  mystery  profound  !  which  man  will  only  comprehend  when 
his  soul  shall  be  admitted  to  unite  itself  to  the  universal  soul 
(Brahmatma),  in  the  bosom  of  the  divinity. 

This  Trinity  consists  of  Brahma,  Vischnou,  and  Siva. 

Brahma  represents  the  creative  principle,  and  receives,  in 
Sanscrit,  the  name  of  Father. 

Vischnou  represents  the  protecting  and  preserving  principle, 
he  is  the  Son  of  God,  the  incarnate  word  in  the  person  of 
Christna,  who  came  upon  earth,  both  pastor  and  prophet,  to 
save  humanity,  then  to  die,  his  work  accompHshed,  of  a  violent, 
ignominious  death. 

Lastly,  Siva  or  Nara,  that  is  to  say,  the  Divine  Spirit  —  is 
the  principle  that  presides  at  destruction  and  re-constitution, 
image  of  Nature,  uniting  the  attributes  of  fecundity  and  of  life, 
of  decomposition  and  of  death.  It  is,  in  a  word,  the  Spirit  that 
directs  that  eternal  movement  of  existence  and  of  dissolution, 
which  is  the  law  of  all  beings. 

The  function  of  this  Trinity  commences  from  the  first  act  of 
Creation — Brahma  creates,  Vischnou  protects  or  preserves, 
and  Siva  transforms,  and  God  continues  to  operate  in  his  triple 
attributes  until  a  new  dissolution  of  nature,  until  the  day  when 
all  existence  ends,  and  all  returns  to  chaos. 

According  to  Vedic  revelation,  matter  is  subject  to  one  only 
law,  which  operates  alike  in  all  bodies,  in  all  plants,  and  in  all 
Animals. 

Thus  a  seed  is  thrown  into  the  earth,  a  germ  is  developed,  it 
produces  a  plant,  or  a  tree.     This  plant,  or  tree,  grows,  de- 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  1 93 

dines,  dies,  and  returns  to  earth.  But  this  plant,  or  this  tree, 
has  produced  seed,  which  in  its  turn  reproduces  the  origina* 
type  which  has  disappeared.  It  is  the  same  with  animals,  and 
with  all  that  exists. 

In  the  same  way,  matter,  born  of  a  germ  fecundated  by  the 
Supreme  Being,  develops  itself  by  fixed  laws,  and  ends  like  the 
plant,  the  tree,  and  the  animal,  in  decomposition.  But  a  germ 
remains,  which  regenerates  itself,  fecundates  itself  anew  in  the 
bosom  of  the  great  soul  of  power  supreme,  and,  anew,  gives 
birth  to  the  universe. 

During  this  period  the  Trinity  is  lost  in  Unity  as  if  non-exis- 
tent, since  unrevealed  in  action. 

What  charms  me  in  this  Hindoo  belief  is  that  it  leads  all  back 
to  unity,  and  accepts  all  the  logical  consequences.  .  .  . 
And  how  sublime  in  its  simplicity  is  that  great  law  of  matter. 

We  may,  I  imagine,  explore  in  vain,  all  religious,  all  phila 
sophic  systems,  for  ideas  so  rational,  so  much  in  conformity 
with  the  laws  of  nature  and  the  dignity  of  God. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  work  of  this  Trinity  under  the  su- 
preme direction  of  Brahma. 

From  matter,  God  first  produced  light,  air,  earth  and  water. 

Then  from  the  Supreme  Soul,  he  emitted  the  life,  or  Manas 
common  to  plants,  animals  and  man,  then  the  ahancara,  that  is 
conscience,  the  individual  mind  {le  moi)  with  all  its  faculties,  to 
be  the  special  appanage  of  man  alone. 

Next,  to  distinguish  the  operation  of  conscience,  he  estab- 
lished tlie  just,  and  the  unjust,  and  gave  thought  to  this  individ- 
ual mind  {d,  ce  moi),  which  was  destined  to  guide  the  reasoning 
creatures  he  was  about  to  produce  from  his  substance. 

After  that  God  created  plants,  trees,  and  animals,  and  when, 
according  to  the  holy  books,  all  nature  was  but  one  chorus  of 
love,  and  of  acknowledgment,  Brahma  formed  the  man  and  the 
woman  out  of  the  purest  of  himself,  and  this  done,  he  rested 
and  admired  himself  in  his  work. 

The  abridged  Manou,  mutilated  by  the  Brahmins  to  suit  their 
newly  established  system,  has  not  the  simplicity  and  grandeur  of 
17 


194  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

the  Veda  :  on  these  matters,  however,  we  may  say  that  the  fol 
lowing  passages,  although  imperfect  and  unfaithful,  are  an  echo 
of  the  primitive  doctrine  : 

"  When  God  awakes,  then  does  the  universe  acc3mpHsh  its 
operations ;  —  when  he  sleeps  —  the  spirit  plunged  in  profound 
repose,  then  does  the  world  dissolve. 

"For  during  his  tranquil  sleep,  animated  beings,  endowed 
with  principles  of  action,  forego  their  functions  and  sensation, 
that  is,  life,  becomes  inert. 

"And  when  together  dissolved  in  the  supreme  soul  then 
does  this  soul  of  all  beings  sleep  tranquilly  in  the  most  perfect 
repose. 

"After  retiring  into  primitive  obscurity,  it  long  retains  the 
organs  of  sense,  it  accomplishes  not  its  function,  and  divests 
itself  of  its  form. 

"  When,  reuniting  anew  the  subtle  elementary  principles,  it 
introduces  itself  into  matter,  then  does  it  assume  a  new  form. 

"  It  is  thus  by  alternate  waking  and  repose  that  the  Supreme 
Being  eternally  revives  or  dissolves  all  this  assemblage  of  crea- 
tures, moving  and  motionless." 

It  is  in  his  character  of  protector  that  Vischnou  assumes  a 
visible  form,  becomes  incarnate,  and  appears  upon  earth  to  re- 
call men  to  primitive  faith,  whenever  they  have  strayed  from 
it. 

This  Hindoo  belief  in  divine  incarnation,  has  at  least,  above 
many  others,  this  logical  side  of  conceiving  that  God  manifests 
himself  on  earth  whenever  the  weakness  or  the  errors  of  hu- 
manity render  his  presence  necessary. 

The  Trinity  in  Unity,  rejected  by  Moses,  became  afterwards 
ttie  foundation  of  Christian  theology,  wldch  incontestably  ac- 
quired it  from  India. 

Proofe  sufficient  will,  in  their  proper  nlace,  establish  thit 
opinion. 


WINDOO   GENESIS.  !•< 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CREATION  OF  MAN  —  ADIMA   (iN   SANSCRIT,  TKE   FIRST   MAn)  — 

HEVA    (in     SANSCRIT,    THAT    WHICH     COMPLETES    LIFE) THE 

ISLAND    OF   CEYLON   IS   ASSIGNED   THEM  AS   DWELLING-PLACE 

—  ORIGINAL     TRANSGRESSION     COMMITTED     BY  ADIMA HIS 

WIFE    FOLLOWS   FROM  LOVE   OF   HIM  —  DESPAIR  OF   ADIMA  — 

HEVA   CONSOLES   HIM,    AND    INVOKES  THE   LORD BRAHMA'S 

PARDON PROMISE   OF   A   REDEEMER. 

Wander  throughout  the  South  of  India  and  the  Island  of 
Ceylon,  where  tradition  is  preserved  in  all  its  purity,  inquire  of 
the  Hindoo  in  his  humble  straw  hut,  or  of  the  Brahmin  in  his 
temple ;  all  will  repeat  to  you  this  legend  of  the  creation  of 
man,  as  we  are  here  about  to  relate  it  from  the  Veda.  In  the 
Bagaveda-Gita  Christna  recalls  it  in  a  few  words  to  his  disciple 
and  faithful  co-adjutor  Ardjouna,  and  nearly  in  the  same  terms 
as  in  the  sacred  books. 

The  passages  between  inverted  commas  are  simple  transla- 
tions from  the  text 

The  earth  was  covered  with  flowers,  the  trees  bent  under 
their  fruit,  thousands  of  animals  sported  over  the  plains  and  in 
the  air,  white  elephants  roved  unmolested  under  the  shade  of 
gigantic  forests,  an^  Brahma  perceived  that  the  time  had  come 
for  the  creation  of  man,  to  inhabit  this  dwelling-place. 

He  drew  from  the  great  Soul,  from  the  pure  essence,  a  germ 


1^  THE   BIBLE   IN  IKDIA. 

of  life,  with  which  he  animated  the  two  persons  wh^Dm  he  made^ 
male  and  female,  that  is,  proper  for  reproduction,  like  plants 
and  animals;  and  he  gave  them  the  ahancara,^  that  is,  con- 
science,—  and  speech,  which  rendered  them  superior  to  all  he 
had  yet  created,  but  inferior  to  the  angels,  and  to  God. 

He  distinguished  the  man  by  strength,  shape,  and  majesty, 
and  named  him  Adima  (in  Sanscrit,  the  first  man). 

The  woman  received  grace,  gentleness,  and  beauty,  and  he 
named  her  H^va  (in  Sanscrit,  what  completes  life). 

Therefore,  in  giving  Adima  a  companion,  the  Lord  perfected 
the  life  bestowed  on  him,  and  in  thus  establishing  the  conditions 
under  which  humanity  was  about  to  be  born,  he  proclaimed  in 
earth  and  in  heaven  the  equality  of  the  man  and  the  woman. 

Divine  principle,  which  has  been  more  or  less  misunderstood 
by  legislations,  ancient  and  modern,  and  which  India  only  aban- 
doned under  the  deleterious  influence  of  priests,  at  the  Brah- 
minical  revolution. 

The  Lord  then  gave  to  Adima  and  to  his  wife  H6va  the  prim- 
eval  Taprobane  of  the  ancients,  the  Island  of  Ceylon,  for  a 
residence,  well-fitted,  from  its  climate,  it^  products,  and  its  splen- 
did vegetation,  to  be  the  terrestrial  paradise,  cradle  of  the  human 
race. 

It  is  still,  to-day,  the  loveliest  pearl  of  the  Indian  Seas. 

**  Go,  said  he,  unite,  and  produce  beings  who  shall  be  your 
living  image  upon  earth,  for  ages  and  ages  after  you  have  re- 
turned to  me.  I,  Lord  of  all  that  exists,  have  created  you  to 
worship  me  throughout  your  life,  and  those  who  shall  have  faith 
in  me  shall  share  my  happiness  after  the  end  of  all  things.  Thus 
instruct  your  children  that  they  forget  me  not,  for  I  shall  be 
with  them  while  they  continue  to  call  upon  my  name." 

Then  he  forbid  Adima  and  H6va  to  quit  Ceylon,  and  con- 
tinued in  these  terms : 

"Your   mission  is  confined  to  peopling    thii   magnificent 

*  English  Orientalists  render  tMs  wcrd  by  the  much  less  amiaile  intent 
pretatioa  of  "  self-consciousaess,  or  egotism.'* 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  197 

Island,  where  I  have  gathered  together  everything  for  your  plea- 
sure and  convenience ;  and  to  implant  my  worship  in  the  hearts 
of  those  to  be  born.  .  .  .  The  rest  of  the  world  is  as  yet 
uninhabitable ;  if  hereafter  the  number  of  your  cliildren  so  in- 
crease as  to  render  this  habitation  insufficient  to  contain  them, 
let  them  inquire  of  me  in  the  midst  of  sacrifice,  and  I  will  mak<* 
kno\Mi  my  will." 

This  said,  he  disappeared. 

"  Adima  then  turned  towards  his  young  wife  .  .  .  who 
stood  before  him,  erect  and  smiling  in  her  virgin  candor. 

"  Clasping  her  in  his  arms,  he  gave  her  the  first  kiss  of  love 
in  softly  murmuring  the  name  of  H6va.  .  .  .  Adima! 
softly  whispered  the  woman,  as  she  received  the  kiss.     .     .     . 

"  Night  was  come.  The  birds  were  silent  in  the  trees.  The 
Lord  was  satisfied,  for  the  birth  of  love  had  preceded  the  unior 
of  the  sexes. 

"  Thus  had  Brahma  willed  it,  to  teach  his  creatures  that  the 
union  of  the  man  and  the  woman  without  love  would  be  but  an 
immorality,  contrary  to  nature  and  to  his  law. 

"  Adima  and  H6va  lived  for  some  time  in  perfect  happiness 
—  no  suffering  came  to  disturb  their  quietude  ;  they  had  but  to 
stretch  forth  the  hand  and  pluck  from  surrounding  trees  the  most 
delicious  fruits,  but  to  stoop  and  gather  rice  of  the  finest 
quality. 

"  But  one  day  a  vague  disquietude  began  to  creep  upon  them ; 
— jealous  of  their  felicity  and  of  the  work  of  Brahma,  the  Prince 
of  the  RakchasoSj  the  Spirit  of  Evil,  inspired  them  with  disturb- 
ing desires.  *  Let  us  wander  through  the  island,'  said  Adima 
to  his  companion,  *  and  see  if  we  may  not  find  some  place  even 
more  beautiful  than  this.' 

"  Heva  followed  her  husband ;  they  wandered  for  days  and 
for  months,  resting  beside  clear  fountains,  under  gigantic  Ban- 
yans that  protected  them  from  the  sun's  rays.  .  .  .  But  as 
they  advanced  the  woman  was  seized  with  strange  fears,  inex- 
plicable terrors:  *  Adima,'  said  she,  'let  us  go  no  farther;  it 


198  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

seems  to  me  that  we  are  disobeying  the  Lord.  Have  we  no^ 
already  quitted  the  place  which  he  assigned  us  as  a  dwelling  ? ' 

"  *  Fear  not,'  said  Adima,  *  this  is  not  that  fearful  unhabitable 
country  of  which  he  spoke  to  us.' 

"And  they  journeyed  on. 

"Arriving  at  last  at  the  extremity  of  the  island,  they  beheld 
a  smooth  and  narrow  arm  of  the  sea,  and  beyond  it  a  vast  and 
apparently  boundless  country,  connected  with  their  island  by 
a  narrow  and  rocky  pathway  arising  from  the  bosom  of  the 
waters. 

"The  two  wanderers  stood  amazed;  the  country  before  them 
was  covered  with  stately  trees,  birds  of  a  thousand  colors  flitting 
midst  their  foliage. 

"  *  Behold,  what  beautiful  things ! '  cried  Adima,  *  and  what 
good  fruits  such  trees  must  produce  !  let  us  go  and  taste  them, 
and  if  that  country  is  better  than  this,  we  will  dwell  there.' 

"  H6va,  trembling,  besought  Adima  to  do  nothing  that  might 
irritate  the  Lord  against  them.  'Are  we  not  well  here  ?  Have 
we  not  pure  water  and  delicious  fruits  ?  Wherefore  seek  other 
things  ? ' 

"  *  True,'  replied  Adima,  *  but  we  will  come  back ;  what  harm 
can  it  be  to  have  visited  this  unknown  country,  that  presents 
itself  to  our  view  ? ' 

"  And  approaching  the  rocks,  H^va,  trembling,  followed. 

"Then,  placing  his  wife  upon  his  shoulders,  he  proceeded 
to  cross  the  space  that  separated  him  from  the  object  of  his 
desires. 

"  But  no  sooner  did  they  touch  the  shore,  than  trees,  flowers, 
fruit,  birds,  all  that  they  had  seen  from  the  opposite  side,  van- 
ished in  an  instant  midst  terrific  clamor ;  the  rocks  by  which 
they  had  crossed  sunk  beneath  the  waters,  a  few  sharp  peaks 
alone  remaining  above  the  surface  to  indicate  the  place  of  the 
bridge,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  Divine  displeasure." 

Those  rocks  which  rise  in  the  Indian  Ocean  between  the 
eastern  point  of  India  and  Ceylon,  are  still  known  in  th« 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  19^ 

country  under  the  name  of  Palam  Adima,  L  e.^  Bridge  of 
Adam. 

WTien  steamers,  bound  for  China  and  India,  have  passed  the 
Maldives,  the  first  point  they  discern  of  the  Indian  coast  is  a 
blueish  peak,  often  crowned  with  clouds,  which  rises  majestically 
from  the  bosom  of  the  waters.  The  foot  of  this  mountain  was, 
according  to  tradition,  the  first  man's  point  of  departure  for  the 
continental  coast. 

From  earliest  times  this  mountain  has  borne  the  name  of 
Adam's  Peak,  and  under  this  name  does  modem  geography 
still  describe  it. 

Let  us  close  this  parenthesis,  to  continue  our  text. 

"  The  vegetation  which  they  had  seen  from  far,  was  but  a 
delusive  mirage,  raised  by  the  prince  of  the  Rakchasos  to  tempt 
them  to  disobedience. 

"  Adima  threw  himself,  weeping,  upon  the  naked  sands,  but 
H^va  came  to  him,  and  threw  herself  into  his  arms,  saying,  *  Do 
not  despair ;  let  us  rather  pray  to  the  Author  of  all  things,  to 
pardon  us.' 

"  And  as  she  thus  spoke  there  came  a  voice  from  the  clouds, 
saying  : 

"  '  Woman,  thou  hast  only  sinned  from  love  to  thy  husband, 
whom  I  commanded  thee  to  love,  and  thou  hast  hoped  in  Me. 
I  pardon  thee,  and  him  also  for  thy  sake !  But  you  may  no 
more  return  to  the  abode  of  delight  which  I  had  created  for 
your  happiness.  Through  your  disobedience  to  my  commands, 
the  spirit  of  evil  has  obtained  possession  of  the  earth.  Your 
children,  reduced  to  labor  and  to  sufier  by  your  fault,  will  be- 
come corrupt  and  forget  Me.  But  I  will  send  Vischnou,  who 
shall  incarnate  himself  in  the  womb  of  a  woman,  and  shall 
bring  to  all  the  hope  and  the  means  or  recompense  in  another 
life,  in  praying  to  Me  to  soften  their  ills.' 

"They  arose  consoled,  but  ever  after  subjected  by  painful 
labor,  to  obtain  their  subsistence  from  the  earth."  (Ramatsariar, 
texts  and  commentaries  on  the  Vedas,) 


«00  THE    BIBLE    IN   INDIA. 

How  grand,  how  logical,  and  how  simple,  this  beautiful  Hii» 
doo  legend ! 

The  Redeemer,  Christna,  will  be  born  of  a  woman  to  reward 
H^va,  ^or  having  neither  despaired  of  God,  nor  had  the  first 
idea  of  offence,  In  which  she  was  only  an  accomplice  from  love 
to  him  whom  the  Creator  had  commanded  her  to  love. 

This  is  beautiful  and  consoling. 

Behold  here  the  veritable  Eve,  and  we  understand  that  one 
of  her  daughters  may  afterwards  become  the  mother  of  a  re- 
deemer. 

How  is  it  that  the  awkward  composer  of  the  Hebrew  Gen- 
esis could  not  transcribe  this  version  without  mutilation  ? 

Was  it  from  forgetfulness  or  design,  that  the  woman  is  charged 
by  Moses  with  the  whole  weight  of  original  sin  ? 

We  hesitate  not  to  declare  it  intentional,  and  from  cowardly 
deference  to  the  manners  of  the  age,  that  the  Hebrew  legislator 
thus  falsified  the  ancient  tradition  of  the  East.  In  our  next 
chapter  will  be  found  our  justification  of  this  conclusion. 

But  what  are  we  to  think  of  this  legend? 

However  seductive  it  may  appear,  reason  must  alike  reject 
it,  in  either  Hindoo  or  Christian  religion. 

We  cannot  attribute  such  weakness  to  God,  as  to  believe 
that  for  a  simple  and  single  transgression  of  our  first  parents, 
he  could  condemn  entire  unoffending  humanity  to  suffering  and 
sin. 

This  tradition  was  a  needful  invention : 

The  early  races  of  men,  feeling  all  the  ills  they  had  to  sup- 
port, perceiving  their  own  weakness,  their  nature  composed  of 
good  and  evil  instincts ;  instead  of  cursing  God  who  had  cre- 
ated them,  preferred  to  seek  in  primitive  transgression  the 
justification  of  their  miserable  condition.  Hence  that  original 
sin  which  we  find  in  all  the  beliefs  of  all  the  peoples  of  our 
globe ;  even  amongst  the  savage  tribes  of  Africa  and  of 
Oceanica. 

Perhaps,  also,  it  may  be  out  a  souvenir  of  the  easy  and 
happy  life  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  globe,  at  a  time 


HINDOO   GE  VESTS.  201 


when  the  earth,  less  charged  with  population,  afforded  in  abu». 
dance,  and  wi±out  labor,  all  things  necessary  for  subsistence. 


CHAPTER  V. 

WHEREFORE   DOES   MOSES  ATTRIBUTE  TO  THE  WOMAN   THE   INI« 

TIATIVE  IN  ORIGINAL  SIN  ? THE  WOMAN  OF  THE  VEDAS,  ANP 

THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

India  of  the  Vedas  entertained  a  respect  for  women,  amount- 
ing to  worship ;  a  fact  which  we  seem  little  to  suspect  in 
Europe  when  we  accuse  the  extreme  East  of  having  denied  the 
dignity  of  woman,  and  of  having  only  made  of  her  an  instru- 
ment of  pleasure  and  of  passive  obedience.* 

*  Mr.  Lecky  then  errs  (History  of  European  Morals,  p.  294,  voL  11) 
when  speaking  of  "Marriage  in  its  Oriental  or  polygamous  stage  as  re- 
garded exclusively  in  its  sensual  aspect,  as  a  gratification  of  the  animal 
passions;"  the  very  reverse  being  the  fact,  as  polygamy  itself  shows.  It 
remained  for  Christianity,  in  this  as  in  everything  else,  to  make  its  direct 
appeal  to  the  passions  and  interests  of  the  individual  animal.  **  No prohihUia 
tcncubitm  cum  gravida  Uxore^''  making  of  Christian  marriage  a  mere 
Agalized  concubinage^  for  imlimited  libidinous  gratification,  and  hence, 
d*Tibtless,  our  ten-fold  greater  proportion  of  congenital  infirmities — idiots, 
deaf  and  dumb,  blind  and  malformed  —  than  under  the  more  moral  and 
purer  Oriental  conception  of  the  laws,  relations  and  sacred  functions  o^  seib 

—  TRANS'-ATOR, 


»02  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

What  was  true  of  antiquity,  was  not  so  with  regard  to  ancient 
India;  and  the  subHme  efforts  of  Christ  did  but  restore  te 
woman  the  social  position  which  she  had  enjoyed  in  the  earhest 
ages  of  humanity. 

Let  it  be  well  understood,  that  it  was  but  sacerdotal  influence 
and  Brahminical  decay  that,  in  changing  the  primitive  condi- 
tion of  the  East,  reduced  woman  to  a  state  of  subordination 
which  has  not  yet  wholly  disappeared  from  our  social  system. 

Let  us  read  these  maxims  taken  at  hazard  from  the  sacred 
books  of  India. 

"Man  is  strength — woman  is  beauty;  he  is  the  reason  that 
governs,  but  she  is  the  wisdom  that  moderates ;  the  one  cannot 
exist  without  the  other,  and  hence  the  Lord  created  them  two, 
for  the  one  purpose. 

"  Man  is  incomplete  without  woman,  and  the  man  who  does 
not  marry  at  the  age  of  virility  should  be  stigmatized  as  infa- 
mous. 

"  He  who  despises  woman,  despises  his  mother. 

"  Who  is  cursed  by  a  woman,  is  cursed  by  God. 

"  The  tears  of  a  woman  call  down  the  fire  of  heaven  on  those 
wiio  make  them  flow. 

"  Evil  to  him  who  laughs  at  woman's  suflerings,  God  shall 
laugh  at  his  prayers. 

"  The  songs  of  women  are  sweet  in  the  ears  of  the  Lord  ^ 
men  should  not,  if  they  wish  to  be  heard,  sing  the  praises  of 
God  without  women. 

"  The  priest  shall  allow  women  to  burn  perfume  upon  the 
altar,  when  he,  offers  sacrifice  for  fruits,  for  flowers,  for  house- 
holds, and  for  creation. 

"  Women  should  be  protected  with  tenderness,  and  gratified 
with  gifts,  by  all  who  wish  for  length  of  days. 

"  It  was  at  the  prayer  of  a  woman  that  the  Cremator  pardoned 
man ;  cursed  be  he  who  forgets  it. 

"  A  virtuous  woman  needs  no  purification,  for  she  is  never 
A  filed,  even  by  contact  of  impurity. 

'Who  shall  forget  the  sufferings  of  his  mother  at  his  birth^ 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  lOJ 

shall  be  re-bom  in  the  body  of  an  owl  during  three  s  accessivc 
transmigrations. 

"  There  is  no  crime  more  odious  than  to  persecute  women, 
and  to  take  advantage  of  their  weakness  to  despoil  them  of 
their  patrimony. 

"  In  assigning  her  portion  to  his  sister,  each  brother  should 
ndd  to  it,  from  his  own  ;  and  present  to  her  the  finest  heifer  of 
his  herd,  the  purest  saffron  of  his  crop,  the  most  beautiful  jewel 
©f  his  casket. 

"The  woman  watches  over  the  house,  and  the  protecting 
divinities  (devas)  of  the  domestic  hearth  are  happy  in  her  pres- 
ence.    The  labors  of  the  field  should  never  be  assigned  her. 

"  Woman  should  be  for  man  the  soother  of  labor  and  the 
consolation  of  misfortune." 

The  sentiments  expressed  in  these  citations  are  not  isolated, 
or  only  found  in  one  work ;  all  ancient  books  are  filled  with  the 
same  love,  the  same  respect  for  woman.  The  abridgment  of 
Manou,  constructed  by  the  Brahmins  in  support  of  their  own 
ideas  of  domination,  although  placing  woman  in  a  position  more 
subordinate,  more  obscure,  could  not,  in  many  circumstances, 
escape  making  itself  the  echo  of  those  primitive  principles 
which  might  not  be  so  soon  forgotten. 

We  have,  in  fact,  already  cited  a  passage  from  this  book, 
which  we  think  it  not  inappropriate  here  to  reproduce  : 

"Women  should  be  shielded  with  fostering  solicitude  by  theirt 
fathers,  their  brothers,  their  husbands,  and  the  brothers  of  their 
husbands,  if  they  hope  for  great  prosperity. 

"Wherever  women  live  in  affliction,  the  family  becomes  ex- 
tinct, but  where  they  are  loved,  respected,  and  surrounded  with 
tenderness,  the  family  increases  and  prospers  in  every  way. 

"  WTien  women  are  honored,  the  divinities  are  con  ent,  but 
where  they  are  not  honored,  all  undertakings  fail. 

"  The  households  cursed  by  women,  to  whom  they  have  not 
rendered  the  homage  due  them,  find  themselves  weighed  down 
with  ruin  and  destroyed,  as  if  they  had  been  stnick  by  some 
iecret  power. 


304  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

"  In  households  where  the  husband  is  content  with  his  wife 
*nd  the  wife  with  her  husband,  happiness  is  ensured  forever." 

We  also  read  in  the  same  work  : 

*'When  relatives,  by  some  subterfuge,  take  possession  of 
the  property  of  a  woman,  her  carriages,  or  her  jewels,  such 
evil-doers  shall  descend  into  the  infernal  regions. 

"  If  a  woman  is  not  happy  and  dressed  in  a  manner  becom- 
ing her,  she  will  not  fill  her  husband's  heart  with  joy;  and  if 
the  husband  is  not  joyful,  the  marriage  will  be  sterile. 

"  When  the  woman  is  happy,  the  family  is  in  like  manner 
happy. 

"  The  virtuous  woman  should  have  but  one  husband,  as  the 
right-minded  man  should  have  but  one  wife." 

Under  the  regime  of  the  Vedas,  marriage  was  held  so  indis- 
soluble, that  even  death  could  not  restore  either  party  to  liberty, 
if  children  had  been  born  of  the  union.  The  one  remaining  in 
exile  upon  earth,  should  live  upon  memories,  and  in  mourning, 
until  the  day  of  death  permitted  re-union  in  the  bosom  of 
Brdhma,  with  its  other  half,  the  holy  affection  which  it  had  lost. 

How  grand  in  its  moral  sense  was  the  idea  of  duty  and 
honor,  of  this  civiUzation  of  early  ages,  which,  so  near  the  in- 
fancy of  humanity,  had  not  yet  seen  the  rise  of  those  baneful 
ambitions,  which  since,  in  partitioning  the  earth  and  strewing  it 
with  ruins,  have  made  man  forget  his  celestial  origin,  and  the 
sacred  innocence  of  his  first  existence. 

Manifestly  we  cannot  accept  Judaism,  with  its  train  of  super- 
stitions, immoraUties  and  atrocities,  as  the  guardian  of  primitive 
revelation,  and  the  inspirer  of  modern  intelligence.  Judea, 
like  Persia  and  Egypt,  is  a  product  of  Brahminism  and  of  Hin- 
doo decay  ;  and  has  but  gathered  a  few  of  the  grand  traditions 
of  the  modier-country,  to  mutilate  and  adapt  them  to  the  morals 
of  the  epoch. 

The  first  result  of  the  baneful  domination  of  priests  in  India, 
^s  the  abasement  and  moral  degradation  of  the  wonmn,  SQ 
lespected  and  honored  during  the  Vedic  period 


HINDOO   GENESIS  205 

The  sacerdotal  caste  in  Egypt  followe:'  the  inspiration  of  tht 
Brahmins,  and  took  care  to  make  no  change  in  that  situation. 

If  you  would  reign  over  the  persons  of  slaves,  over  brutalized 
intelligence,  the  history  of  these  infamous  epochs  presents  a 
means  of  unequalled  simplicity  :  Degrade  and  deinoralize  tht 
woman,  and  you  will  soon  have  made  of  man  a  debased  crea 
ture,  without  energy  to  straggle  against  the  darkest  despotisms  j 
for,  according  to  the  fine  expression  of  the  Vedas,  "  the  woman 
is  driQ  soul  of  humanity ! " 

How  perfectly  did  the  mysterious  and  unknown  author  of  the 
sacred  books  of  India  understand  that  the  woman  —  daughter, 
wife  and  mother — held  the  family  by  the  heart's  most  sacred 
ties,  and  that  in  inspiring  the  family  with  her  gentle  and  chaste 
virtues,  she  moralized  society. 

But  how  well,  too,  did  those  corrupt  priests,  thirsting  for 
power,  understand  that  there  was  the  joint,  there  the  knot  to 
be  severed  for  more  secure  establishment  of  their  dominion ! 

Did  Moses  come  to  change  this  state  of  things  and  to  restore 
to  woman  her  true  role,  that  which  she  had  before  fulfilled  in 
primitive  times  of  the  East  ? 

No! 

Did  he  concede  to  the  morals  of  the  epoch,  against  which  ho 
was  powerless  to  contend?  —  Possibly, — but  then  it  is  only 
another  reason  for  talking  to  us  no  more  about  revelation ! 

Ah !  partisans  of  Jehovah,  what  a  paltry  idea  you  seek  to 
give  us  of  God  —  and  on  what  curious  traditions  repose  your 
beliefs ! 

What !  here  is  a  civiHzation  which  you  cannot  deny  to  be 
older  than  your  own,  which  places  the  woman  on  a  level  with 
the  man,  gives  them  an  equal  place  in  the  family  and  in  so- 
ciety ;  decay  comes  and  reverses  these  principles.  You  appear 
and  proudly  call  yourselves  "  the  people  of  God,"  while  you 
are  only  the  rotten  produce  of  Hindoo  decomposition,  incapa- 
ble of  recovering  the  pure  doctrines  of  primitive  ages,  or  of  re- 
fa  ibilitating  your  mothers ! 

Avaunt,  then,  people  of  Israel,  —  offspring  of  parias,  cease 
18 


20d  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

preaching  to  us  of  your  divine  origin,  —  youi  reign  was  but  on« 
of  violence  and  bloodshed ;  and  you  were  incapable  of  com* 
prehending  woman,  who  alone  could  have  regenerated  you  1 

You  have  Ruth,  it  is  true,  of  the  candor  and  touching  poetry 
of  whose  role  you  boast.  We  know  what  she  was  worth,  and 
how  she  prostituted  herself  to  Boaz,  by  the  advice  of  her  mother, 
to  make  him  marry  her. 

It  was  the  usage  of  the  times,  you  will  reply,  and  that  is  pre- 
cisely my  reproach  against  you  who  profess  yourselves  the  be- 
gotten of  revelation. 

Wherefore  did  you  not  change  these  usages?  You  knew 
how  to  construct  the  code  of  conquest  by  pillage,  fire,  and 
sword,  but  you  were  powerless  to  legislate  for  purity,  propriety, 
and  social  morality. 

Remember  the  daughters  of  Lot  prostituting  themselves  to 
their  father !  Abraham  casting  out  his  own  children  by  his 
maid- servants  !     Thamar  delivering  herself  to  her  father-in-law  1 

Recollect  that  priest,  that  levite  of  Ephraim,  who,  to  calm 
the  fury  of  some  drunken  men  and  escape  their  violence,  turned 
out  his  wife  for  their  gratification,  and  abandoned  her  to  a  whole 
night  of  violation ! 

It  is  time  to  appreciate  all  things  at  their  true  value  ! 

If  you  are  not  revelation,  I  accept  your  excuse,  and  admit 
with  you  that  these  vile  abuses  were  the  usages  of  the  time. 

If  you  are  a  revelation,  I  repudiate  you,  and  I  tell  you  that 
your  revelation  is  immoral ! 

Oh  !  you  would  have  us  believe  that  God  created  a  progres- 
sive and  perfectible  morality  ?  that  there  is  an  old  law  tolerat 
ing,  and  a  new  law  proscribing,  immorality? 

Well !  I  tell  you  in  reply,  that  there  is  but  one  eternal  moral 
law  ordained  by  God  at  the  cradle  of  humanity,  and  that  all 
those  peoples  who  have  ignored  it  have  violated  the  law  of 
God. 

A  circumstance  that  has  always  astonished  me  is  to  see  the 
branches  of  modem  Protestantism,  of  that  religion  of  firee  judg 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  207 

ment,  reject  from  their  communion  those  whose  faith  in  the 
light  of  reason  denies  revelation. 

A  man,  r:alled  illustrious  because  he  overthrew  a  throne,  and 
who  would  overthrow  many  others  but  for  that  he  is  for  the 
moment  unemployed  because  of  disqualifying  inaptness,  has 
lately  devoted  himself  to  preaching  in  books. 

He  is  not  a  Catholic,  for  he  has  not  that  ardent  holy  faith 
that  would  excuse  his  Catholicism. 

He  is  not  a  Protestant,  for  he  proscribes  independence  and 
freedom  of  thought. 

He  is  not  a  Jew,  for  he  admits  the  ancient  law  for  the  past, 
and  rejects  it  for  the  present. 

Then  what  is  he  ? 

He  was  a  man  who  disdained  men,  a  minister  who  despised 
ministers,  a  deputy  who  scorned  electors,  and  a  subject  who 
contemned  his  king. 

In  short,  he  is  a  man,  who,  after  freely  despising  each  and  all, 
is  now  in  a  fair  way  to  receive  what  he  so  liberally  bestowed. 

Well !  this  man,  who  has  set  about  preaching  in  his  books, 
has  made  himself  the  champion  of  Hebrew  revelation. 

He  believes  this,  because  it  suits  him ;  he  rejects  that,  be- 
cause it  displeases  him ;  he  is  eclectic,  but  it  is  of  his  own 
eclecticism ;  he  is  a  freethinker,  but  of  his  own  free  thoughts, 
and  he  will  have  none  other. 

A\Tiat  impels  him  to  this  last  proceeding  ? 

The  desire  to  surround  his  name  with  a  final  eclat 

Come,  M.  Guizot,  quit  your  pen,  as  you  have  quitted  the 
ministry.  All  that  I  can  tell  you,  on  behalf  of  youthful  think- 
ers, is,  that  you  dishearten  both  believers  and  freethinkers. 

We  may  respect  one  who  defends  an  idea  or  a  standard 
(flag),  but  never  those  who  have  no  other  idea,  or  other  flag 
than  self. 

I  have  just  re-perused  this  entremet,  which,  perhaps,  ought 
not  to  soil  my  pages — ought  I  to  efface  it  ?  No  !  my  pen  may 
perchance  have  met  a  cry  of  public  conscience. 

The  nane  presented  itself  among  many  defenders  of  Hebre^i 


208  THE   BIBLE   IN  INBIA. 

revelation,  and  was  the  only  one  that  attracted  me,  becauR  the 
only  one  that  so  impressively  suggested  the  individual,  the  Eg$ 
{Moi\  and  personified  social,  political,  and  religious  egotism  in 
itself. 

Let  us  suppose  all  this  but  a  parenthesis,  and  return  to  om 
subject. 

I  have  said  to  revelation,  that  it  is  not  revelation  because 
not  constructed  to  rehabilitate  woman,  and  because  rejecting 
the  traditions  of  ancient  India,  the  India  of  the  Vedas,  it  does 
but  continue  the  traditions  of  Brahminical  times. 

The  woman  of  the  Vedas  is  chaste  and  respectable,  —  the 
woman  of  the  Bible  is  but  a  slave,  and  sometimes  but  a  pros- 
titute. 

The  woman  of  the  Vedas  is  a  companion  for  man,  and  the 
honor  of  the  domestic  hearth. 

The  woman  of  the  Bible  is  but  a  concubine. 

The  Hindoo  could  have  but  one  wife. 

The  Israelite  made  excursions  into  neighboring  territories  to 
procure  himself  virgins,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  to  sell  his  own 
daughter  when  he  found  a  good  price. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  seek  elsewhere  than  in  the  corruption 
of  Hebrew  morals,  the  motives  which  impelled  Moses  to  change 
the  parts,  and  mutilate  the  Hindoo  version  of  creation,  which 
he  copied  in  Egypt  from  the  sacred  books  of  the  priests. 

The  Hebrew  legislator  could  not  at  this  lawless  epoch,  intro- 
duce the  beautiful  and  touching  figure,  —  the  woman,  free, 
chaste,  and  devoted,  reigning  in  the  hearts  of  her  husband  and 
her  children.  Let  us  admit,  further,  in  his  defence,  that  had  he 
had  the  courage  to  make  the  attempt,  —  his  people  would  not 
have  understood  it,  and  he  would  infallibly  have  sunk  under  a 
general  revolt. 

Throughout  the  East,  woman  had  become  the  slave  of  a 
master,  and  none  yet  dreamt  of  emancipating  and  restoring  hei 
to  her  place ;  nor  had  Moses,  more  than  others,  an  idea  of  re- 
viving primitive  traditions. 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  909 

He  could  not  then,  in  such  circumstances,  transcribe  the 
Hindoo  legend  in  all  its  sublime  simplicity. 

To  have  made  man  the  author  of  original  sin  would  have  di- 
minished the  prestige  and  shocked  the  pride  of  the  despot,  and 
have  made  woman  understand  that  she  had  been  wrongfully 
disfranchised,  in  the  name  of  the  Divinity. 

But  it  is  not  in  this  only  that  Moses  forgot  India ;  in  Genesis 
Jehovah  announces  no  redeemer  to  Adam  and  Eve,  after  their 
fault ;  and  I  confess  it  is  not  without  astonishment  that  I  see 
the  Christian  idea  rely  upon  Moses,  to  maintain  that  the  Lord 
announced  the  Messiah  to  our  first  parents. 

See  ^diat  says  Genesis,  when  Adam  is  expelled  from  Para- 
dise : 

"And  he  (Jehovah)  said,  Behold  Adam  is  become  almost  like 
one  of  us  (Jehovah  does  not  appear  to  me  quite  certain  that  he 
is  the  One  and  only  God),  knowing  good  and  evil,  he  must  now 
be  expelled,  lest  he  again  raise  his  hand  to  the  tree  of  life,  and 
eating  of  its  fruit,  live  eternally. 

"  God  then  turned  him  out  of  the  garden  of  delight,  that  he 
might  cultivate  the  earth,  whence  he  was  taken. 

"  And  having  expelled  him,  he  placed  cherubim  before  the 
garden  of  Paradise,  with  flaming  swords  to  guard  the  tree  of 
life." 

I  have  vainly  examined  each  sentence^  each  expression,  not 
only  of  this  book,  but  also  of  the  four  others  attributed  to  Moses, 
and  have  found  it  impossible  to  discover  anything  which,  dis- 
tinctly or  indistinctly,  plainly  or  figuratively,  could  possibly 
apply  to  a  Redeemer. 

It  was  but  later  that  the  prophets  recovered  this  tradition 
which  India  had  bequeathed  to  all  the  peoples,  and  wnich  we 
find  in  all  the  sacred  books  of  the  world. 

It  may  be  well,  also,  to  remark,  that  Moses  says  not  a  word 
about  the  creation  and  revolt  of  the  angels,  which  we  regard  as 
another  posterior  adoption  from  the  traditions  of  the  East. 

Thus  does  this  Hebrew  religion  form  itself  little  by  little,  from 
Darts  and  pieces,  gathered  here  and  there  from  all  ancient 
16* 


«IO  THE  BIBLE  IN   INDIA. 

mythologies,  and  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  a  revelation, 
which  will  not  bear  examination. 

It  results  from  all  this,  that  Moses  knew  much  less  of  the 
sacred  books  of  India  and  of  Egypt,  than  the  Levites  and  pro 
phets  who  afterwards  completed  his  work. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE    DELUGE,    ACCORDING  TO   THE    MAHA-BARATA    AND     BRAB 
MINICAL  TRADITIONS. 

Here  we  have  but  an  embarras  de  choix  :  there  is  not  a  r^fc- 
cord  of  ancient  India,  treatise  on  theology,  or  poem,  that  fails 
to  give  its  special  version  of  the  great  cataclysm  of  which  all 
peoples  retain  the  tradition. 

An  abridged  Vedic  version  of  the  event  narrates  that  "  Ac- 
cording to  the  Lord's  prediction,  the  earth  became  peopled,  and 
the  sons  of  Adima  and  H^va  grew  so  numerous  and  so  wicked 
that  they  could  no  longer  agree  among  themselves.  They  for 
got  God  and  his  promises,  and  ended  by  wearying  him  with  the 
clamor  of  their  bloody  quarrels. 

"  One  day,  King  Daytha  had  even  the  audacity  to  launch  his 
imprecations  against  heaven's  thunder,  commanding  silence,  and 
threatening  in  default,  to  conquer  heaven  at  the  head  of  hitf 
waxriors. 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  SIX 

"  The  Lord  then  resolved  to  inflict  upon  his  creatmes  a  ter- 
rible chastisement,  which  should  serve  as  a  warning  to  survivors 
and  to  their  descendants." 

Thus  we  see  Brahma  did  not,  like  the  Jehovah  of  the  Bible, 
exhibit  the  weakness  inconsistent  with  his  prescience  of  regret- 
ting that  he  had  created  the  world. 

Brahma  having  cast  his  eyes  over  the  world  to  discover  the 
man  who,  of  all  others,  deserved  to  be  saved  for  the  continu- 
.ince  of  the  human  race,  chose  Vaiwasvata,  because  of  his  vir- 
tues ;  and  we  here  learn  how  he  made  known  his  will,  and  the 
results. 

Vaiwasvata  had  reached  that  period  of  life  when  ardent  ser- 
vants of  God  should  withdraw  from  family  and  friends,  and  re- 
tire into  forests  and  deserts,  to  end  their  days  in  the  midst  of 
austerities  and  in  perpetual  contemplation  of  the  pure  divine 
essence. 

One  day  as  he  came  to  perform  his  ablution  on  the  sacred 
banks  of  the  Viriny,  a  little  fish  of  most  brilliant  colors  came 
and  threw  itself  upon  the  sand,  crying  to  the  holy  man,  "  Save 
me  !  if  you  do  not  listen  to  my  prayer,  I  shall  inevitably  be  de- 
voured by  the  larger  fish  that  inhabit  the  river." 

Moved  with  pity,  Vaiwasvata  placed  it  in  the  brazen  vase, 
which  served  him  to  dip  water  from  the  river,  and  carried  it 
home,  where  it  grew  so  fast  that  a  larger  vessel  being  insuffici- 
ent to  contain  it,  Vaiwasvata  was  obliged  to  transport  it  to  a 
tank,  where  its  growth  continuing  with  the  same  rapidity,  it  be- 
sought its  preserver  to  convey  it  to  the  Ganges. 

"  That,"  answered  the  holy  hermit,  "  is  beyond  my  strength, 
one  should  be  Brahma's  self  now  to  withdraw  you  firom  where 
you  are." 

"At  least  try,"  replied  the  fish. 

And  Vaiwasvata  having  seized  it,  with  the  greatest  facility 
raised  and  conveyed  it  to  the  sacred  river,  and  not  only  was 
this  enormous  fish  as  light  as  a  straw,  but  it  also  effused  about 
»tself  the  sweetest  perfumes. 


212  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

Vaiwasvata  perceived  that  he  was  accomplishing  the  will  of 
the  Lord,  and  was  in  expectation  of  wonderful  events. 

The  fish  soon  recalled  him,  and  this  time  demanded  to  be 
transported  to  the  ocean,  which  was  accomplished  with  the  same 
promptness. 

It  tlien  said  to  its  preserver : 

"  Listen,  O  wise  and  beneficent  man  :  the  globe  is  about  to 
be  submerged,  and  all  that  inhabit  it  shall  perish,  for  behold  the 
wrath  of  the  Lord  shall  breathe  upon  the  clouds  and  the  seas, 
to  charge  them  with  the  chastisement  of  this  corrupt  and  wicked 
race,  who  forget  their  origin,  and  the  law  of  God.  Your  fellow- 
creatures  can  no  longer  contain  their  pride,  and  even  dare  to 
defy  their  Creator,  but  their  offences  have  reached  the  foot  of 
Brahma's  throne,  and  Brahma  is  about  to  make  known  his 
power. 

"  Hasten,  then,  to  construct  a  vessel  in  which  you  shall  em- 
bark yourself  with  all  your  family. 

"  You  will  take  also  seeds  of  every  plant  and  a  couple  of 
each  species  of  animals,  leaving  all  such  as  are  begotten  of  va- 
pors and  rottenness  —  for  their  principle  of  life  does  not  em- 
anate from  the  great  Soul  ? 

"  And  you  will  wait  with  confidence." 

Vaiwasvata  hastened  to  obey  these  instructions,  and,  having 
constructed  the  ship,  shut  himself  up  with  his  family  therein, 
with  the  seeds  of  plants  and  a  couple  of  all  animals,  as  had  been 
said. 

When  the  rain  began  to  fall  and  the  seas  to  overflow,  a  mon- 
strous fish,  armed  with  a  gigantic  horn,  came  and  placed  itself 
at  the  head  of  the  ship,  and  Vaiwasvata  having  attached  a  cable 
to  the  horn,  the  fish  darted  forth  to  conduct  and  guide  the  ship 
in  the  midst  of  all  the  unchained  elements. 

And  those  in  the  ship  saw  that  the  hand  of  God  protected 
them,  for  the  fury  of  the  tempest  or  tlie  violence  of  the  waves 
harmed  them  not.  This  lasted  for  days  and  months  ard  years, 
until  the  work  of  destruction  was  entirely  completed.  The  ele- 
ments having  calmed,  the  navigators,  always  guided  by  theii 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  91$ 

mysterious  conductor,  were  able  to  land  on  the  summit  of  the 
Himalaya. 

"  It  is  Vischnou  that  has  saved  you  from  death,"  said  the  fish 
on  leaving  them,  "  it  is  at  his  prayer  that  Brahma  has  pardoned 
humanity  —  go  now,  re-people  the  earth  and  accomplish  the 
work  of  God."* 

According  to  tradition,  it  was  by  reminding  Brahma  that  he 
had  promised  to  send  him  upon  earth  to  lead  back  men  to  the 
primitive  faith  and  to  redeem  their  transgressions,  that  Visch- 
nou obtained  the  preservation  of  Vaiwasvata,  that  the  promise 
of  God  might  be  thereafter  fulfilled. 

This  legend,  we  think,  needs  no  commentary ;  and  the  read- 
er will  easily  perceive  all  the  consequent  conclusions. 

According  to  some,  Vaiwasvata  was  the  father,  through  his 
orogeny,  of  all  new  peoples. 

According  to  others,  he  had  but  to  throw  pebbles  into  the 
mud  left  by  the  waters,  to  produce  men  in  as  great  numbers  as 
he  desired. 

On  one  side  it  is  the  myth,  recovered  and  adopted  by  Juda^ 
ism  and  the  Christian  dogma. 

On  the  other  it  is  the  tradition  of  Deucalion  and  Pj^rrha 
brought  to  Greece  in  tlie  poetic  chants  of  emigraats. 

*  Mr.  MfiUcr  seems  to  connect  this  le^;aid  witii  the  oame  of  Af^Mu, 


S14  THE   BIBLK   IN  INDIA. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  LEGEND  OF  THE  PATRIARCH  ADJIGARTA. 

Obviously  we  cannot  here  enter  upon  a  history  of  the  de- 
scendants of  Vaiwasvata,  nor  relate  all  the  Hindoo  legends 
that  touch  upon  patriarchal  life  after  the  deluge.  We  shall 
confine  ourselves  to  that  of  Adjigarta,  which,  from  its  striking 
resemblance  to  that  of  Abraham  of  the  Bible,  will  signally  sup- 
pt)rt  our  proposition,  that  Moses  obtained  his  traditions  of 
Genesis,  patriarchal  and  others,  from  the  sacred  books  of 
Egypt,  which  were  themselves  but  a  rescript  of  the  Vedas  and 
religious  beliefs  of  India,  — a  conclusion  from  which  there  is 
no  escape,  but  by  persistently  judging  those  ancient  epochs  by 
the  absurd  fables  of  the  Hebrew  legislator,  aided  by  a  chronol- 
og}^,  of  which  modern  science  has  established  the  impossibility. 

It  is  curious,  in  fact,  in  examining  this  chronology,  to  see 
the  determination  with  which  Moses  attaches  himself  to  Adam. 
I  doubt  the  possibility  of  finding  anything  in  the  world  more 
repulsive  to  the  most  common  laws  of  common  sense. 

According  to  the  Bible : 

Moses  was  long  a  contemporary  of  Levi! 

Levi  lived  thirty-one  years  witli  Isaac : 

Isaac  lived  fifty  years  with  Shem  : 

Shem  lived  ninety-six  years  with  Mathusalem : 

Mathusalera  lived  foity-three  years  with  Adam : 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  115 

Thus  Moses  would  be  only  separated  from  the  creation  of 
the  world  by  four  generations,  and  from  the  deluge,  by  two 
generations ! 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  four  men  who  separated  Moses 
from  Adam  would,  according  to  biblical  chronology,  have  lived 
two  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty-three  vears,  or  six  hun- 
dred years  for  each  life. 

This  audacious  pleasantry,  which  cannot  be  seriously  dis- 
cussed, nevertheless  mspires  the  Jesuit  de  Carri^re  with  the 
following  reflections : 

"  So  that  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  all  that  is  recorded 
r/i  Genesis,  might  have  become  known  to  Moses  through  re- 
citals personally  made  to  him  by  his  fathers.  Perhaps  even 
the  memories  yet  existed  amongst  the  Israelites,  and  from 
those  recollections  he  may  have  recorded  the  dates  of  births 
and  deaths  of  the  patriarchs,  the  numbering  of  their  children 
and  their  families,  and  the  names  of  the  different  countries  in 
which  each  became  estabhshed  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  we  must  always  regard  as  the  chief  author  of  the 
sacred  books." 

We  must,  however,  understand  each  other,  my  reverend 
father ! 

Moses  knew  no  Trinity.  I  defy  you  to  cite  a  single  line  of 
his  work  contradictory  of  this  affirmation.  Wherefore,  then, 
substitute  the  Holy  Spirit  for  Jehovah  ?  You  do  not  say,  but 
I  understand  ;  it  is  by  the  aid  of  these  adjunctions,  for  which 
you  are  never  at  a  loss  when  needful,  that  you  explain  the 
Bible,  and  there  discover  what  does  not  exist. 

It  was  bad  enough  to  make  these  men  live  five,  six,  seven, 
nine  hundred  years  like  Mathusalem,  without  taking  the  trouble 
to  introduce  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  ought,  if  respected,  to  have 
nothing  in  common  with  these  gross  traditions. 

It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  our  history  is  easily  con- 
tented, since  malgre  the  twenty  times  triumphant  refutations 
of  science,  she  still  persists  in  adopting  this  Hebrew  chronot 
ogy. 


9t6  THE  BIBLE    IN  INDIA. 

According  to  Hindoo  chronology,  the  deluge  occurred  at  the 

end  of  the  Twapara-Yauga,  that  is,  the  third  age  of  the  world's 
existence,  more  than  four  thousand  years  before  our  era,  and 
in  the  following  age  lived  Adjigarta,  the  grandson  of  Vaiwas 
vata. 

The  following  legend  relates  to  this  patriarch,  who  lived  two 
thousand  6ve  hundred  years  before  Moses,  and  who,  no  doubt, 
suggested  to  Moses  the  legend  of  Abraham  : 

"  In  the  country  of  Ganga,  lived  a  virtuous  man  of  the  name 
of  Adjigarta ;  morning  and  evening  he  retired  to  woody  glades, 
or  to  the  banks  of  rivers  whose  waters  are  naturally  pure,  to 
offer  sacrifice. 

"  And  when  the  sacrifice  was  offered,  and  his  mouth  purified 
by  Divine  nourishment,  after  having  softly  pronounced  the 
mysterious  word  —  Aum  !  which  is  an  appeal  to  God  —  he 
chanted  the  consecrated  hymn  of  the  Savitri : 

**  Bhauar  !       Bhauvah  1       Shauar  I 
(Earth.  ^ther.         Heaven.) 

"  Lord  of  the  worlds  and  of  all  creatures,  receive  my  humble  invoca- 
tions, turn  from  the  contemplation  of  thy  immortal  power  :  —  Thy  single 
glance  shall  purify  my  soul. 

**Come  to  me,  that  I  may  hear  thy  voice  in  the  fluttering  of  the  leaves, 
in  the  murmuring  waters  of  the  sacred  river,  in  the  sparkling  flame  of  the 
Avasathya  (consecrated  fire). 

**  My  soul  longs  to  breathe  the  air  that  emanates  from  the  Great  Soul ; 
listen  to  my  humble  invocation.     Lord  of  all  woilds  and  of  all  creatures. 

"  Bhaur  !      Bhauvah  I     Shauar  ! 
(Earth.         ^ther.  Heaven.) 

•*  Thy  word  shall  be  sweeter  to  m/  thirsty  soul  than  the  tears  of  night  to 
the  sandy  desert,  sweeter  than  the  voice  of  the  yoimg  mother  who  caresses 
her  infant. 

"Come  to  me,  O  thou  by  whom  the  earth  blooms  into  flowers,  by 
whom  harvests  ripen,  by  whom  all  germs  develop  themselves,  by  whom 
glitter  the  heavens,  mothers  produce  children,  and  sages  learn  virtue. 

"  My  soul  thirsteth  to  know  thee,  and  to  escape  from  its  mortal  enrel* 
©pe  to  the  enjoyment  of  celestial  bliss,  absorbed  in  thy  splendor. 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  117 

••  Bhaur  I    Bhauvah  1    Shauar  I " 
(Earth.       -^tlier.        Heaven.) 

(Exti-act  from  Sam- Veda.) 

"After  this  invocation  to  God,  the  sage  Adjigarta  turned 
himself  towards  the  Sun,  and  to  it,  as  tlie  most  magnificent 
creation  of  Bralima,  addressed  this  hymn  : 

*  O  radiant  an  i  glorious  Sun,  accept  the  homage  which  I  address  to  thine 
Rver  young  and  ever  excellent  attributes. 

'  Deign  to  accord  my  prayer,  that  thy  rays  may  descend  upon  my  hungry 
spirit,  as  a  yoimg  lover  hastens  to  receive  the  first  kisses  of  his  mistress. 

'  Sun  !  lustrous  orb,  that  fertilizeth  and  rejoiceth  both  the  earth  and  the 
sea  !  sliine  upon  me  !  * 

"  Pure  and  resplendent  Sun,  let  us  consider  thine  excellent  light,  that  it 
way  brighten  and  direct  our  intelligence. 

*  The  priests,  by  sacrifices  and  holy  chants  honor  thee,  O  resplendent 
Sun,  for  their  intelligence  discovers  in  thee  the  most  beautifid  work  of 
God. 

*  Hungering  for  celestial  food,  I  solicit  by  my  hmnble  prayers,  thy  divine 
toad  precious  gifts,  O  sublime  and  glorious  Sun  ! ' 

(Extract  from  the  Rig- Veda.) 

"After  reciting  these  prayers  and  making  the  prescribed  ab- 
lutions, the  sage  Adjigarta  still  devoted  the  greater  part  of  the 
day  to  study  of  the  profound  and  mystic  meaning  of  the  Veda, 
under  the  direction  of  a  holy  person  named  Pavaca,  (the  puri- 
fied), who  was  not  far  from  that  age  (seventy  years)  when  the 
true  servant  of  God  should  retire  from  the  world  to  lead  a  life 
of  seclusion. 

"When  Adjigarta  had  completed  his  forty-fifth  year,  having 

*  This  beautiful  hymn  might  almost  be  supposed  the  original  of  Meta»« 
Usio  s  •♦  Inno  a  Venere." 

"  Scendi  propizia  col  tuo  splendore, 
'*  O  bella  Venere,  madre  d' Amore ; 


"  Tu  colle  lucide,  pupille  cLiare, 
"  Fai  lieta  e  fertile,  la  terra  e*l 
19 


f  l8  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

passed  his  days  in  study  and  prayer,  his  mastcT,  one  morning 
when  sacrifice  was  over,  presented  to  him  a  heifer,  without 
spot,  and  crowned  with  flowers,  saying : 

"  '  Behold  tlie  gift  which  the  Lord  ordains  for  those  who  have 
completed  the  study  of  the  Veda,  you  no  more  require  my  in- 
structions, O  Adjigarta;  think  now  of  procuring  for  yourself  a 
son  who  may  accomplish  on  your  tomb  the  funeral  ceremonies 
which  should  introduce  you  to  the  abode  of  Brahma.' 

"  *  Father,'  replied  Adjigarta,  *  I  hear  your  words,  and  under- 
stand the  necessity ;  but  I  know  not  a  woman,  and  if  my  heart 
desired  to  love,  it  knows  not  where  to  address  its  prayer.' 

" '  I  have  given  you  hfe  by  the  understanding,'  said  Pavaca, 
*1  will  now  give  you  the  life  of  happiness  and  love. 

^'*My  daughter  Parvady  excels  amongst  all  virgins  foi 
beauty  and  discretion,  from  her  birth  I  have  destined  her  foi 
your  -wife  —  her  eyes  have  not  yet  rested  upon  man,  nor  ha«- 
man  beheld  her  gracious  countenance.' 

"  On  hearing  these  words,  Adjigarta  was  filled  with  joy. 

"  The  wedding  feast  took  place,  and  the  marriage  was  con- 
secrated after  the  manner  of  the  Dwidjas. 

*'  Years  slipped  on  with  nothing  to  disturb  the  felicity  of  Ad- 
jigarta  and  the  beautiful  Parvady  :  their  herds  were  the  largest 
and  best  tended;  their  harvests  of  rice,  of  small  grains  and  of 
saffron,  were  always  the  finest. 

"  But  one  thing  was  wanting  to  their  happiness  :  Parvady  al- 
though her  husband  had  always  approached  her  at  the  favora- 
ble season,  according  to  the  law  of  God,  had  given  him  no 
child,  and  seemed  struck  with  sterility. 

**  Vain  her  pilgrimage  to  the  sacred  waters  of  the  Ganges  — 
vain  her  numberless  vows  and  prayers; — she  had  not  con- 
ceived. 

"  The  eighth  year  of  her  sterility  approached,  when,  accord 
ing  to  the  law,  Parvady  should  be  divorced  as  not  having  pro- 
duced a  son.  —  which  was  a  subject  of  continued  desolation  to 
them  both. 

"When,  one  day,  Adjigarta  took  a  young  red  goat,  the  fin- 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  9ff 

est  of  his  herd,  and  went  to  a  desert  mountain  to  sacrifice  it  to 
God,  as  with  flowing  tears  he  prayed,  *  Lord,  separate  not  those 
whom  thou  hast  united.*  But  sobs  choked  his  voice,  and  he 
could  say  no  more, 

"  As  he  lay  \vith  his  face  to  the  earth,  groaning  and  implor- 
ing God,  a  voice,  which  sounded  from  the  clouds,  made  him 
'tremble,  and  he  distinctly  heard  these  words : 

*  Return  to  thy  house,  Adjigarta,  the  Lord  has  heard 

thy  prayer,  and  has  had  pity  on  thee.' 

"As  he  returned  towards  home,  his  wife,  full  of  joy,  ran  to 
meet  him,  and  as  for  a  long  time  he  had  not  seen  her  joyful,  he 
inquired  the  reason  of  her  unusual  satisfaction. 

"During  thine  absence,  replied  Parvady,  a  man  who  ap- 
peared worn  out  wdth  fatigue,  came  to  rest  himself  under  the 
verandah  of  our  house.  I  offered  him  the  pure  water,  boiled  rice 
and  ghee  which  we  give  to  strangers,  —  after  having  eaten,  and 
when  about  to  depart  he  said  to  me  :  —  *  Thy  heart  is  sad  and 
thine  eyes  dimmed  from  tears;  —  rejoice  thyself,  for  soon  shalt 
thou  conceive,  and  a  son  shall  be  born  of  thee  whom  thou  shalt 
name  Viashagagana  (the  reward  of  Alms),  who  shall  preserve 
to  thee  the  love  of  thy  husband,  and  be  the  honor  of  his  race.' 

"  And  Adjigarta  having  in  his  turn  recounted  what  had  hap- 
pened to  him,  they  rejoiced  together  in  their  hearts,  for  they 
trusted  that  their  ills  were  at  an  end,  and  that  they  would  not 
be  obliged  to  separate. 

*'  Night  having  come,  and  Adjigarta,  having  perfumed  him- 
self, and  well  rubbed  his  limbs  with  saffron,  approached  Par- 
vady, for  she  was  at  the  propitious  season,  and  she  conceived. 

"The  day  of  the  child's  birth  was  celebrated  with  general 
rejoicings,  in  which  relations,  friends,  and  servants  participated. 

"  Pavaca  alone  did  not  assist,  for  he  was  d^ad  to  the  world, 
and  only  lived  in  contemplation  of  the  Lord. 

"  The  child  received  the  name  of  Viashagagana,  or  Viasha 
gana,  as  it  had  been  said. 

'*  Parvady  had  afterward  many  daughters,   who  were   the 


390  THE  EIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

ornaments  of  the  house  for  their  beauty,  but  God  gave  her  not 
another  son. 

"  As  the  child  approached  its  twelfth  year,  and  was  distin- 
guished above  all  for  strength  and  shape,  his  father  resolved  to 
proceed  with  him  to  offer  commemorative  sacrifice  on  the 
mountain  where  the  Lord  had  before  granted  his  prayer. 

"After  having,  as  on  the  first  occasion,  selected  a  young 
goat,  without  spot,  and  of  a  red  fleece,  from  his  herd,  Adjigarta 
proceeded  on  his  way  with  his  son. 

"Advancing  on  their  way,  through  a  thick  forest,  they  came 
upon  a  young  dove  which  had  fallen  from  its  nest,  unfledged  and 
pursued  by  a  serpent ;  Viashagana  darted  upon  the  reptile,  and 
having  killed  it  with  his  staff,  he  replaced  the  young  dove  in  its 
nest  —  and  the  mother,  circling  about  his  head,  thanked  him 
with  her  joyous  cries. 

"  Adjigarta  was  delighted  to  see  that  his  son  was  courageous 
and  good. 

"  Having  reached  the  mountain,  they  set  about  gathering 
«^ood  for  the  sacrificial  pile;  but  while  so  occupied  the  goat 
yhich  they  had  tied  to  a  tree  broke  its  rope  and  fled. 

"  Then  said  Adjigarta,  Behold  here  is  wood  for  the  pile,  but 
we  have  no  longer  a  victim  :  and  he  knew  not  what  to  do,  for 
they  were  far  from  any  habitation ;  and  yet  he  would  not  return 
without  accomplishing  his  vow. 

"  ^  Return,'  said  he  to  his  son,  '  to  the  nest  where  you  re- 
placed the  young  dove,  and  bring  it  to  me ;  in  default  of  a  goat, 
it  will  serve  us  as  a  victim.' 

"Viashagana  was  about  to  obey  the  orders  of  his  father, 
when  the  angry  voice  of  Brahma  was  heard,  as  it  said : 

"  'Wherefore  command  your  son  to  go  in  search  of  the  cfbve 
which  he  saved,  to  immolate  it  in  place  of  the  goat  which  you 
have  allowed  to  escape  ?  Did  you  then  only  save  it  from  the 
serpent  to  imitate  its  evil  action  ?  Such  sacrifice  would  not  be 
agreeable  to  me. 

"  *  He  who  destroys  the  good  that  he  has  done  is  not  worthy 
lo  address  his  prayers  to  me. 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  291 

"  *  Behold  the  first  fault  that  thou  hast  committed,  O  Adji- 
garta !  To  eiface  it  thou  shalt  immolate  the  son  that  I  have 
hav^e  given  tiiee,  on  this  pile  —  such  is  my  will.' 

"  On  hearing  these  words  Adjigarta  was  seized  w^th  profound 
anguish,  he  sat  himself  down  upon  the  sands,  and  tears  flowed 
abundantly  from  his  eyes. 

"  '  O  Pan^ady,'  he  exclaimed,  *  what  wilt  thou  say,  when  thoa 
shalt  see  me  return  alone  to  the  house,  and  what  can  I  answe» 
when  thou  shalt  demand  of  me  what  has  become  of  thy  first 
bom?' 

"  And  thus  he  bemoaned  himself  until  the  evening,  unable  to 
resolve  on  accomplishing  the  grievous  sacrifice.  Nevertheless 
he  dreamt  not  of  disobeying  the  Lord,  and  Viashagana,  notwith- 
standing his  tender  age,  was  firm,  and  encouraged  him  to  exe- 
cute the  divine  commands. 

"  Having  gathered  tlie  wood  and  constructed  the  pile,  with  a 
trembling  hand  he  bound  his  son,  and,  raising  his  arm  with  the 
knife  of  sacrifice,  was  about  to  cut  his  throat,  when  Vischnou, 
in  the  form  of  a  dove,  came  and  sat  upon  the  head  of  the  child. 

"  *  O  Adjigarta,'  said  he,  *  cut  the  victim's  bands  and  scatter 
the  pile ;  God  is  satisfied  of  thy  obedience,  and  thy  son  by  his 
courage  hath  found  grace  before  him.  Let  the  days  of  his  life 
be  long,  for  it  is  from  him  that  shall  be  bom  the  virgin  who  shall 
conceive  by  a  divine  germ  ! ' 

"Adjigarta  and  his  son  offered  long  thanksgivings  to  the 
Lord ;  then,  the  night  having  come,  they  retraced  their  home- 
ward way,  discoursing  of  these  wonderful  things,  and  full  of 
confidence  in  the  goodness  of  the  Lord."  *  (Ramatsariar,  Pro- 
phecies.) 

The  two  hymns  to  Brahma  and  to  the  Sun  are  not  lound  in 
the  legend,  which  confines  itself  to  recording  the  prayers  of 
Adjigarta  on  the  mountain.     The  reader  will,  however,  approve 


*  Other  Oiientalists  appear  not  to  have  perceived  either  the  beauvy  of 
the  sifToificance  of  ihis  most  interesting  legaid. 
19* 


f2J  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

of  our  having  extracted  them  from  the  Rig-Veda,  and  the  Saiw 
Veda,  for  this  translation. 

Such  is  the  antique  memoir  of  the  sacrifice  of  Adjigarta, 
which,  on  our  first  acquaintance  with  it,  filled  us  with  profoun<3 
astonishment. 

We  are  indebted  to  the  great  Orientalist,  William  Jones,  for 
tile  first  trace  of  its  existence.  In  reading,  one  day,  his  trans- 
lation of  Manou,  a  note  led  us  to  consult  the  Hindoo  com- 
mentator, Collouca  Batta,  where  we  found  allusion  to  this 
sacrifice  of  the  son  by  the  father,  which  God  arrested,  after 
having  himself  commanded  it.  Thenceforth  it  became  our 
fixed  idea  to  recover  from  the  inextricable  pages  of  Hindoo 
religious  books  the  original  record  of  this  event,  in  which  suc- 
cess would  have  been  to  us  impossible,  but  for  the  complaisance 
of  a  Brahmin,  with  whom  we  were  studying  Sanscrit,  and  who, 
in  concession  to  our  prayer,  produced  to  us  from  the  library  of 
his  pagoda,  the  works  of  the  theologian  Ramatsariar,  which 
have  been  to  us  so  precious  a  support  in  the  preparation  of  this 
volume. 

When  such  proofs  in  detail  thus  accord  with  the  aggregate, 
would  it  not  be  against  evidence  to  resist  the  conclusion  that 
all  ancient  traditions  had  a  common  origin,  of  which  the  sub- 
structure should  be  sought  in  the  myths  of  the  extreme  East  ? 

I  cannot  too  often  repeat,  that  if  it  be  true  and  logical  to  say 
that  all  modem  peoples  have  quaffed  from  the  same  source  of 
philosophic  and  religious  light,  then  how  can  it  be  illogical  to 
maintain  that  all  the  peoples  of  antiquity  did  but  adopt,  under 
modifications,  the  beliefs  of  their  predecessors?  This  legend 
of  the  patriarch  Adjigarta,  manipulated  by  ^Moses,  became  the 
|iq;end  of  Abraham. 


HTHTKX)   GEN1SI&  Ml 


CHAPTER    VIIL 

INCARNATIONS  —  PROPHECIES     ANNOUNCING     THE     COMING    Or 
CHRISTNA. 

We  shall  enlighten  nobody,  probably,  in  announcing  that  the 
incarnation,  that  is  to  say,  the  descent  of  God  upon  earth  to  re- 
generate his  creatures,  is  the  base  of  the  Hindoo  religion. 
That  is  sufficiently  known  to  all  who  have  ever  opened  a  book 
upon  India,  to  place  us  perfectly  at  ease  in  vindicating  that 
country's  priority  in  this  religious  belief. 

But  if  the  truth  seem  generally  admitted,  if  no  one  contests 
that  India  has  had  her  incarnation,  there  has  hitherto  appeared 
no  other  disposition  than  to  ridicule  these  traditions,  and  abso- 
lutely to  represent  the  different  avatars  of  Brahma  among  men 
as  senseless  superstitions. 

It  would  be  easy  for  us  to  discover  the  source  of  these  opin- 
ions, which  could  not  be  impartial,  emanating  as  they  did  from 
missionaries  of  all  these  forms  of  worship,  who  found  themselves 
in  competitive  antagonism  in  India  with  beliefs  similar  to  those 
they  came  to  preach. 

For  this  purpose  they  adopted  the  very  means  we  describe ; 
instead  of  studying  the  religious  principles  of  the  Hindoos  in 
their  special  books  of  theology,  where  they  might  have  found — 
not  wars,  but  sublime  instructions,  they  addressed  themselves  to 
poetry,  fable  and  heroic  traditions,  to  enable  them  at  their  east 
to  mock  at  Brahma,  at  incarnations,  and  at  trinities. 


t24  TH3    BIBLE    IN   INDIA. 

A  Hindoo  priest  might  play  precisely  the  same  role  in  Europe., 
if  rejecting  Gospel  morale,  and  the  sublime  lessons  of  Christ, 
He  persisted,  designedly,  in  studpng  our  religion  only  in  the 
sacred  dramas  and  religious  farces  of  the  Middle  Ages,  where 
God  the  Father  comes  upon  the  stage  to  take  the  devil  by  the 
throat ;  where  they  assign  to  the  Virgin,  to  Jesus,  to  ai>ostles, 
and  to  saints,  absurdities  the  most  sacrilegious,  and  sometimes 
even  obscene ! 

In  the  East,  the  region  of  dreams  and  of  poetry,  religion 
should  be  studied  much  less  than  elsewhere  in  works  of  imagin- 
ation, which  multiply  to  infinity,  angels,  saints,  and  demons,  and 
introduce  them  constantly  in  the  operations  of  God  and  the 
actions  of  men. 

We  must  study  with  Brahmin  priests,  and  study  their  books, 
and  smile  with  them  at  all  the  superstitions  that  Europe  assigns 
to  India,  and  at  the  interested  report  of  a  few  interested  men. 

According  to  Hindoo  beUef,  there  have  up  to  this  time  been 
nine  avatars  of  God  upon  earth :  the  first  eight  were  but  short 
apparitions  of  the  Divinity,  coming  to  renew  to  holy  individuals, 
the  promise  of  a  Redeemer  made  to  Adam  and  H^va  after  their 
fail; — the  ninth  alone  is  an  incarnation,  that  is  to  say,  a  realiza- 
tion of  the  prediction  of  Brahma. 

This  incarnation  is  that  of  Christna,  son  of  the  Virgin  Dev- 
anaguy. 

Here  are  some  of  the  predictions  which  announce  his  com* 
ing,  collected  by  Ramatsariar,  in  the  Atharva,  the  Vedangas, 
and  the  Vedanta. 

We  give  but  a  small  number  of  these  curious  pieces  of  reli- 
gious poetry,  which,  in  fact,  nearly  all  resemble  each  other  iu 
form  and  substance. 

(Atharva) : 

•*  He  shall  cuine  crowned  with  lights,  the  pure  fluid  issuing 
from  the  great  soul,  the  essence  of  all  that  hath  existence,  and 
the  waters  of  the  Ganges  shall  tlirill  from  their  sources  to  the 
sea,  as  an  enceinte  woman  who  feels  in  her  bosom  the  first 
bound  of  her  infant 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  835 

"He  shall  come,  and  the  heavens  and  "die  worlds  shall  be 
joyous,  the  stars  shall  pale  before  his  splendor,  the  sun  shall 
find  his  rays  too  feeble  to  give  him  light,  the  earth  shall  be  too 
narrow  for  his  boundless  vision,  too  small  to  contain  him. 

"  For  he  is  the  infinite,  for  he  is  power,  for  he  is  wisdom,  foi 
he  is  beauty,  for  he  is  all  and  in  all. 

"He  shall  come,  and  all  animated  beings,  all  the  flowers,  all 
the  plants,  all  the  trees,  the  men,  the  women,  the  infants,  the 
slaves,  the  proud  elephant,  the  tiger,  the  lion,  the  white-plumed 
swan,  all  the  birds,  and  all  the  insects,  all  the  fish,  in  the  air,  on 
the  earth,  and  it  the  waters,  shall  together  intone  the  chant  of 
^oy,  for  he  is  the  Lord  of  all  creatures  and  of  all  that  exists. 

"  He  shall  come,  and  the  accursed  Rackchasos  shall  fly  foi 
refuge  to  the  deepest  hell. 

"  He  shall  come,  and  the  impure  Pisatchas  shall  cease  to 
gnaw  the  bones  of  the  dead. 

"  He  shall  come,  and  all  unclean  beings  shall  be  dismayed ; 
ill-omened  vultures  and  foul  jackals  shall  no  longer  find  rotten- 
ness for  their  sustenance,  nor  retreats  in  which  to  hide  them- 
selves. 

"He  shall  come,  and  life  shall  defy  death,  and  the  period  of 
dissolution  shall  be  suspended  in  its  sinister  operations,  and  he 
shall  revivify  the  blood  of  all  beings,  shall  regenerate  all  bodies 
and  purify  all  souls. 

*'  He  shall  come,  more  sweet  than  honey  and  ambrosia,  more 
pure  than  the  lamb  without  spot,  and  the  lips  of  a  virgin,  and 
all  hearts  shall  be  transported  with  love.  Happy  the  blest  womb 
that  shall  bear  him !  happy  the  ears  that  shall  hear  his  first 
words !  happy  the  earth  that  shall  support  his  first  footsteps ! 
happy  the  breasts  that  his  celestial  mouth  shall  press  !  it  is  by 
their  blest  milk  that  all  men  shall  be  purified. 

"  From  north  to  south,  from  the  rising  to  the  setting,  that  day 
shall  be  a  day  of  exultation,  for  God  shall  manifest  his  glory, 
and  shall  make  his  power  resound,  and  shall  reconcile  himself 
udth  his  creatures." 

I  do  but  transcribe ;  — all  commentary  would  but  enfeeble  the 


126  THE   BIBLE   IN    INDIA. 

inspired  breathings  of  the  prophet,  and  for  that  matter,  what  ro 
flection  should  follow  on  these  pages  ? 

The  reader  is  as  well  able  as  ourselves  to  comprehend,  to 
compare,  and  to  judge. 

Extract  from  the  Vedangas : 

"It  is  in  the  bosom  of  a  woman  that  the  ray  of  the  divine 
Splendor  will  receive  human  form,  and  she  shall  bring  forth,  be 
ing  a  viigin,  for  no  impure  contact  shall  have  defiled  her." 

Extract  from  the  Pourourava : 

"The  lamb  is  born  of  an  ewe  and  a  ram,  the  kid  of  a  goat 
and  a  buck  goat,  the  child  of  a  woman  and  a  man ;  but  the 
divine  Paramatma  (soul  of  the  universe)  shall  be  born  of  a 
virgin,  who  shall  be  fecundated  by  the  thought  of  Vischnou." 

Extract  from  Narada  : 

"  Let  the  Yackchas,  the  Rackchasos,  and  the  Nagas  tremble, 
for  the  day  s.pproaches  when  he  shall  be  bom  who  shall  termi- 
Dsvte  their  reign  on  the  earth." 

Extract  of  Paulastya : 

"There  shall  be  strange  and  terrible  sounds  in  the  heavens, 
in  the  air,  and  on  the  earth ;  mysterious  voices  shall  warn  holy 
hermits  in  the  forests ;  the  celestial  musicians  shall  chant  their 
choruses  ;  the  waters  of  the  seas  shall  bound  in  their  deep  gulfs 
wdth  joy ;  the  winds  shall  load  themselves  with  thn  perfume  of 
flowers :  at  the  first  cry  of  the  divine  child  all  nature  shall  rec- 
ognize its  Master." 

Extract  of  Vedanta : 

"  In  the  early  part  of  the  Cali-Youga  (the  actual  age  of  the 
world,  which,  according  to  the  Hindoos,  began  three  thousand 
five  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era)  shall  be  bom  the 
son  of  the  Virgin." 

I  must,  however  unwillingly,  confine  myself  to  these  few 
citations  of  prophesies  announcing  the  coming  of  the  Hindoo 
Redeemer.  It  is  not  because  unable  to  give  more,  for  the 
sacred  books  afford  on  this  subject  an  embarrassment  of  choice. 
But  the  plan  of  this  work  does  not  permit  me  completely  ta 
satisfy  mere  curiosity. 


HINDOO   GENISIS.  99^ 

Moreover,  as  we  have  already  said,  many  of  the  extracts 
which  we  might  make,  so  resemble  each  other,  that  their  mul- 
tiplicity would  but  destroy  interest  instead  of  augmenting  it. 

The  Vedanta  announces  that  the  incarnation  of  Christna 
sliould  occur  in  the  early  times  of  the  Cali-Youga,  that  is,  of 
die  actual  age  of  the  world.  This  expression,  we  think,  calls 
for  an  explanation. 

The  Hindoos  divide  the  time  of  the  world's  duration  into 
four  ages,  which  should  renew  tliemselves  by  four  different 
revivals  before  the  Maha-Pralaya,  or  general  destruction  of  all 
that  exists. 

The  first  is  known  as  the  Crita-Youga,  and  has  a  duration 
of  one  million  seven  hundred  and  twenty-eight  thousand  human 
years  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  days. 

The  second  is  named  Treta-Youga,  and  has  a  duration  of 
one  million  two  hundred  and  ninety-six  thousand  human  year?. 

The  third,  called  Dwapara-Youga,  has  a  duration  of  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-four  thousand  human  years. 

Lastly,  the  fourth,  of  four  hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand 
years'  duration,  is  called  the  Cali-Youga. 

Of  this  last,  the  actual  age  of  the  world,  about  four  thousand 
five  hundred  years  have  now  elapsed. 

Sir  William  Jones,  in  his  Asiatic  studies,  does  not  doubt  that 
the  Greek  and  Roman  division  of  time  into  four  ages  —  the 
golden  age,  the  silver  age,  the  brazen  age,  and  the  iron  age,  is 
but  a  souvenir  of  Hindoo  tradition — another  testimony  in  favoi 
of  our  views  of  the  origin  of  those  peoples. 


MMS  the   BIKLS   UM  INDIA. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BIRFH   OF  THE    'vlRGIN    DEVANAGUY,   ACCORDING  TO  THE   BAO* 
VEDA  GITA,  AND   BRAHMINICAL  TRADITIONS. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  this  marvellous  Hindoo  incarnation 
—  the  first  in  date  among  all  the  religious  incarnations  of  our 
globe  —  the  first  equally  to  recall  to  men  those  eternal  truths 
impressed  by  God  on  human  conscience,  and  which  are  too 
often  obscured  by  the  strifes  of  despotism  and  intolerance. 

We  shall  simply  describe,  according  to  the  most  incontesta- 
ble Hindoo  authorities,  the  life  of  the  Virgin  Devanaguy,  and 
that  of  her  divine  son,  reserving  for  the  present,  all  comment 
and  comparison. 

The  sister  of  the  Rajah,  mother  of  the  infant,  some  days  be- 
fore her  accouchement,  had  a  dream,  in  which  Vischnou,  appear- 
ing to  her  in  all  the  ^daf  of  his  splendor,  came  to  reveal  to  het 
the  future  destinies  of  the  expected  child. 

"  Thou  shalt  call  the  infant  Devanaguy  "  (in  Sanscrit,  formed 
by  or  for  God),  said  he  to  the  mother,  "for  it  is  through  her 
that  the  designs  of  God  should  be  accomplished.  Let  no  ani- 
mal food  ever  approach  her  lips  —  rice,  honey,  and  milk  should 
be  her  only  sustenance.  Above  all,  preserve  her  from  union 
with  a  man  by  marriage  —  he,  and  all  who  would  have  aided  in 
the  act  before  its  accomplishment,  would  die." 

The  little  girl  at  her  birth  received  the  name  cf  Devanaguy, 


HINDOO  GFNCSIS.  1«9 

as  had  been  commanded ;  and  her  mother,  fearing  that  in  the 
palace  of  her  brother,  who  was  a  wicked  man,  she  might  not 
be  able  to  fulfil  the  prescription  of  God,  conveyed  her  to  the 
house  of  one  of  hei  relatives,  named  Nanda,  lord  of  a  small 
village  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  and  celebrated  for  hia 
virtues.  Her  brother,  to  whom  she  announced  her  departure 
on  pilgrimage  to  the  sacred  river,  fearing  the  murmurs  of  the 
people,  dared  not  oppose  her  designs. 

Nevertheless,  to  show  his  discontent,  he  but  allowed  her  a 
most  mediocre  escort ;  consisting  only  of  two  elephants,  which 
would  scarcely  have  been  sufficient  for  a  woman  of  low  ex- 
traction. 

Towards  evening,  scarcely  had  Lakmy  commenced  her 
march,  when  a  suite,  composed  of  more  than  a  hundred  ele- 
phants, caparisoned  in  gold,  and  conducted  by  men  sumptu- 
ously clothed,  joined  her ;  and  as  night  was  come,  a  column  of 
fire  appeared  in  the  air  to  guide  them,  to  the  sound  of  mysteri- 
ous music  that  seemed  to  come  from  heaven. 

And  all  those  who  assisted  at  this  marvellous  departure  un 
derstood  that  it  was  not  ordinary,  and  that  the  mother  and  the 
infant  were  protected  by  the  Lord. 

The  Rajah  of  Madura  became  exceedingly  jealous,  and  urged 
by  the  prince  of  the  Rackchasos,  who  desired  to  thwart  the 
views  of  Vischnou,  sent  by  a  side  road,  armed  men  to  disperse 
the  escort  and  bring  back  his  sister  to  his  palace. 

He  would  then  have  said —  "You  see  the  roads  are  not  safe, 
and  you  cannot  hope  to  make  so  long  a  journey  without  dan- 
ger 'j  send  a  holy  hermit  in  your  place,  and  he  wiu  accomplish 
your  vow." 

But  scarcely  had  the  soldiers  whom  he  had  sent,  come  in 
sight  of  the  escort  of  Lakmy,  when,  enlightened  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  they  joined  themselves  to  it,  to  protect  the  mother  and 
infant  ^n  route. 

And  the  Rajah  became  furious  on  hearing  of  the  failure  of 
his  evil  action.  The  same  night  it  was  made  known  to  him  in 
SO 


230  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

ft  dream,  that  of  Devanaguy  should  be  bora  a  ion,  who  slioul^ 
dethrone  and  chastise  him  for  all  his  crimes. 

He  then  thought  to  conceal  his  dark  projects  in  his  heart, 
assured  that  later  he  would  easily  succeed  in  enticing  his  niece 
to  his  court,  should  his  sister  refuse  to  return  to  him,  and  that 
it  would  be  possible  for  him  to  effect  her  death,  and  escape 
the  fate  with  which  he  was  menaced. 

The  better  to  conceal  his  design,  he  sent  messengers  loaded 
with  many  presents  to  be  conveyed  to  Lakmy,  for  presentation 
to  their  relation  Nanda. 

The  journey  of  Lakmy  to  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  was  but 
a  triumphal  march ;  from  all  sides  the  population  crowded  her 
passage,  saying  amongst  themselves  —  "  What  queen  is  this 
who  possesses  such  a  splendid  escort,  this  must  be  the  wife  of 
the  most  powerful  prince  of  the  earth."  And  from  all  parts 
they  brought  her  flowers  to  strew  the  way,  and  fruits  and  rich 
presents. 

But  what  most  astonished  the  crowd  was  the  beauty  of  the 
young  Devanaguy,  who,  although  but  a  few  days  old,  had  al- 
ready the  serious  countenance  of  a  woman,  seeming  to  under- 
stand what  passed  around  her  and  the  admiration  of  which  she 
was  the  object. 

During  the  journey,  which  lasted  sixty  days,  the  column  of 
fire,  invisible  with  the  sun,  reappeared  at  night,  and  never 
ceased  to  direct  the  cortege  until  its  arrival.  And,  most  won- 
derful— the  tigers,  panthers,  and  wild  elephants,  far  from  flying, 
as  usual,  with  terror  at  the  approach  of  man,  came  gently  to 
observe  the  suite  of  Lakmy;  and  their  bowlings  became  as 
tender  as  the  songs  of  nightingales,  that  they  might  not  frighten 
the  infant. 

Nanda,  informed  of  the  arrival  of  his  relative,  by  a  messen- 
ger from  Vischnou,  came  two  days*  march  from  his  habitation 
to  meet  her,  followed  by  all  his  servants,  and  the  moment  he 
perceived  Devanaguy — he  saluted  her  by  the  name  of  mother; 
laying  to  all  those  who  were  astonished  at  the  word,  **  she  will 


HINDOO   GENXSIS.  SJt 

be  mother  lo  us  ^  for  of  her  will  be  bom  the  Spirit  that  shall 
regeneiate  us." 


CHAPTER  X 

INFANCY    OF    DKVilWAGUy — DEATH     OF     HER     MOTHER — HEX 
RETURN  TO  MADURA. 

The  first  years  of  Devanaguy  glided  on  in  peace  in  the 
house  of  Nanda,  and  without  the  least  attempt  by  the  tyrant 
of  Madura  to  entice  her  to  him.  On  the  contrary,  he  seized 
every  occasion  to  send  her  presents,  and  to  thank  Nanda  for 
the  hospitality  which  he  had  extended  to  Lakmy  and  her 
daughter,  which  led  all  to  believe  that  the  light  of  the  Lord 
had  touched  him,  and  that  he  had  become  good. 

In  tlie  meantime  the  young  virgin  grew  up  midst  her  com- 
panions, surpassing  them  all  in  discretion  and  beauty.  None 
better  than  she,  although  scarce  six  years  of  age,  knew  how  to 
conduct  the  duties  of  the  house,  to  spin  flax  or  wool,  and  to 
diffuse  joy  and  prosperity  throughout  the  family 

Her  happiness  was  in  solitude — lost  in  the  contemplation 
of  God,  who  showered  upon  her  all  his  blessings,  and  often 
afforded  her  celestial  presentiment  of  what  should  happen  to 
her. 

One  day  as  she  was  performing  her  ablutions  on  the  banij 


t$2  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

of  the  Ganges,  midst  a  crowd  of  otlier  women  who  had  come 
for  the  same  purpose,  a  gigantic  bird  came  sailing  over  her,  and 
gently  descending,  deposited  upon  her  head  a  crown  of  lotus 
flowers. 

And  all  the  people  were  amazed,  and  imagined  that  tluf 
child  was  destined  for  great  things. 

Meanwhile  occurred  the  death  of  Lakmy,  after  a  short  ill- 
ness, and  Devanaguy  learned  in  a  dream  that  her  mother  had 
seen  the  gates  of  the  blest  abode  of  Brahma  open  themselves 
before  her,  because  her  life  had  always  been  pure  and  chaste, 
and  it  was  not  necessary  to  perform  the  usual  funeral  ceremo- 
nies on  her  tomb. 

Devanaguy,  whose  person  was  on  earth,  but  whose  thought8 
were  in  heaven,  did  not  weep,  nor  wear  mourning  for  her 
mother  as  customary,  for,  as  it  is  taught  in  the  sacred  books, 
she  regarded  death  as  a  birth  unto  the  new  life. 

Having  heard  of  the  misfortune  that  had  fallen  upon  his 
niece,  the  tyrant  of  Madura  judged  the  moment  jDropitious  for 
the  execution  of  his  treacherous  designs,  and  sent  ambassadors 
to  Nanda  with  many  presents,  praying  restoration  of  the  young 
Devanaguy  to  himself,  as  her  nearest  relative,  since  the  death 
of  her  mother. 

Nanda  was  profoundly  grieved  at  this  proposition,  for  he 
loved  the  child  equally  with  his  own,  and  could  not  divest  him- 
self of  forebodings  that  gave  a  darkening  aspect  to  the  future 
of  Devanaguy  at  the  court  of  her  uncle. 

Yet  the  request  being  just,  he  left  the  young  girl  free  to  ac- 
cept or  to  reject  it. 

Devanaguy,  who  knew  that  destiny  called  her  to  Madura, 
accompanied  the  ambassadors  sent  by  her  uncle,  after  invoking 
all  God's  blessings  upon  the  house  she  was  leaving. 

"  Remember,"  said  Nada,  "  that  we  shall  be  happy  to  see 
you  again,  should  misfortune  bring  you  back  to  us." 

The  forebodings  of  her  protector  had  not  deceived  him, 
Scarcely  was  Devanaguy  in  the  power  of  her  uncle,  wl^n  he, 
throwing  off  the  mask,  had  her  confjied  in  a  tower,  of  which 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  2^3 

he  commanded  the  door  to  be  walled  up,  to  preclude  the  possi- 
bility of  escape. 

But  the  virgin  was  not  distressed.  She  had  already  long 
received  from  heaven  the  knowledge  of  what  should  happen  to 
her,  and,  full  of  confidence,  she  waited  the  moment  fixed  by 
God  for  accomplishing  his  celestial  designs. 

Yet  the  tyrant  of  Madura  was  not  undisturbed  :  a  frightful 
famine  desolated  his  states.  Death  had  robbed  him,  one  by 
one,  of  all  his  children,  and  he  lived  in  constant  fear  of  the 
most  dismal  catastrophes. 

Pursued  by  the  idea,  suggested  by  his  dream  of  long  before, 
that  he  was  to  be  bethroned  by  a  son  born  of  Devanaguy,  in- 
stead of  repenting  of  the  many  crimes  he  had  committed,  and 
for  which  he  had  been  already  so  severely  chastised  by  the 
Lord,  he  resolved  to  relieve  himself  of  all  apprehension  on  this 
subject  by  destroying  his  niece.  For  this  purpose  he  had 
poison  —  extract  of  the  most  dangerous  plants — mixed  with 
the  water  and  food  passed  each  day  to  Devanaguy  in  her 
prison ;  but  he  was  filled  with  alarm  at  the  extraordinary  fact 
• — not  only  did  the  young  girl  not  die,  but  she  even  seemed  not 
to  have  perceived  the  poison. 

He  then  left  her  without  food,  thinking  that  starvation  might 
be  more  powerful  than  poison. 

It  was  vain;  Devanaguy  continued  to  enjoy  the  most  perfect 
health,  and,  despite  the  most  active  vigilance,  it  was  impossible 
to  know  if  she  received  food  from  some  mysterious  hand,  or  if 
the  spirit  of  God  alone  sufficed  for  her  support. 

Seeing  this,  the  tyrant  of  Madura  abandoned  the  idea  of  put- 
ting her  to  death,  and  was  content  to  surround  her  prison  with 
a  strong  guard,  tlireatening  his  soldiers  with  the  most  fearful 
punishment  if  Devanaguy  should  elude  their  vigilance  and 
escape. 

But  it  was  in  vain  ;  all  these  precautions  could  not  oDstruct 
fulfilment  of  the  prophecy  of  Poulastya ; 

"The  divine  spirit  of  Vischnou  passed  through  the  wallf  t4 
join  himself  to  his  well-beloved.'* 


«14  THE  BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

HIE    PROMISE  OF  GOD    ACCOMPLISHED  —  BIRTH    OF    CHRISTNJ 

PERSECUTION    OF    THE    TYRANT    OF   MADURA  —  MASSACRI 

OF  ALL    THE     MALE   CHILDREN   BORN   ON    THE   SAME   NIGHT 
AS   CHRISTNA. 

(According  to  the  Bagaveda-Gita  and  Brahminical  tradition). 

One  evening,  as  the  Virgin  was  praying,  her  ears  were  sud- 
denly charmed  with  celestial  music,  her  prison  became  illumin- 
ated, and  Vischnou  appeared  to  her  in  all  tlie  edaf  of  his 
divine  Majesty.  Devanaguy  fell  in  a  profound  ecstacy,  and 
having  been  overshadowed {\.%  the  Sanscrit  expression )  by  the 
spirit  of  God  that  desired  to  incarnate  itself  she  conceived. 

The  period  of  her  gestation  was  to  her  a  time  of  continued 
enchantment ;  the  divine  infant  afforded  his  mother  infinite  en- 
jo3aiients,  which  made  her  forget  earth,  her  captivity,  and  even 
her  existence. 

The  night  of  Devanaguy*  s  accouchement,  and  as  the  newly- 
born  uttered  its  first  wail,  a  violent  wind  opened  a  passage 
through  the  walls  of  the  prison,  and  the  Virgin  was  conducted 
with  her  son,  by  a  messenger  from  Vischnou,  to  a  sheep-fold 
belonging  to  Nanda,  situated  on  the  confines  of  the  territory  of 
Madura. 


HINDOO  GEITESIS.  2$$ 

The  newly-born  was  named  Christna(in  Sanscrit,  sacred). 

The  shepherds,  informed  of  the  charge  which  was  confided 
to  them,  prostrated  themselves  before  the  infant,  and  adored 
him. 

The  same  night,  Nanda,  inspired  by  God  in  a  dream,  knew 
what  had  happened,  and  commenced  his  march,  with  his  ser- 
vants, and  many  other  holy  people,  in  search  of  Devanaguy 
and  her  son,  to  withdraw  her  from  the  intrigues  of  the  tyrant  of 
Madura. 

He,  on  hearing  of  the  accouchement  and  wonderful  escape 
of  his  niece,  fell  into  an  ungovernable  rage ;  instead  of  under- 
standing that  it  was  useless  to  strive  against  the  Lord,  and  de- 
manding grace,  he  resolved,  by  every  possible  means,  to  pursue 
the  son  of  Devanaguy,  and  to  put  him  to  death,  hoping  thus  to 
escape  the  fate  with  which  he  was  menaced. 

Having  had  another  dream,  warning  him  more  precisely  of 
the  chastisement  that  awaited  him,  he  ordained  the  massacre  in 
all  his  states^  of  all  the  children  of  the  male  sex^  born  during 
the  night  of  the  birth  of  Christna,  thinking  thus  surely  to  reach 
him  who  in  his  thought  should  drive  him  from  his  throne. 

Guided,  no  doubt,  by  the  inspiration  of  a  cunning  rakchasas, 
who  desired  to  oppose  the  designs  of  Vischnou,  a  troop  of  sol- 
diers reached  the  sheep-fold  of  Nanda,  and  as  he  had  not  yet 
arrived,  his  servants  were  about  to  ann  themselves  to  defend 
Devanaguy  and  her  son,  when  all  at  once,  O  prodigy !  the  child 
who  was  at  his  mother's  breast,  began  suddenly  to  giow, —  in 
a  few  seconds  he  had  attained  the  size  of  a  child  of  ten  years 
of  age,  and  ran  to  amuse  himself  midst  the  herd  of  sheep. 

The  soldiers  passed  near  him  without  suspicion,  and  not  find- 
ing in  the  farm  any  child  of  the  age  of  him  whom  they  sought^ 
returned  to  the  cit}--,  dreading  the  rage,  at  their  failure,  of  him 
who  had  sent  them. 

Shortly  after  arrived  Nanda  with  all  his  troops,  and  his  first 
care  was  to  prostrate  himself,  with  all  tlie  holy  persons  who  ac 
companied  him,  before  the  virgin  and  \ier  divine  child.  Noi 
considering  them  in  a  place  of  safety,  he  conducted  them  to 


9$6  THX   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  and  thus  was  Devanaguy  enabled 
once  more  to  behold  the  abodes  of  her  infancy. 

We  shall  not  here  transcribe  the  many  details  that  refer  to 
the  first  years  of  Christna,  they  were  passed  in  the  midst  of 
dangers  without  number,  devised  by  those  who  had  an  interest 
in  his  death,  but  he  always  came  out  victorious  from  these  con- 
tests, whether  with  men  or  with  demons. 

The  poets  who  have  exercised  their  imaginations  on  all  these 
things,  have  so  surrounded  them  with  miracles,  and  with  won- 
derful events,  that  a  dozen  volumes  would  scarce  suffice  to  re- 
count them. 

Yet  there  is  one  fact  of  the  God-Man  which  we  cannot  pass 
over  in  silence,  because  Jesuits  in  India  have  made  use  of  it, 
and  still  do  so  every  day  to  maintain  that  Christna  was  of  dis- 
solute morals,  and  gave  many  examples  of  impurity. 

One  day,  walking  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  Christna  per- 
ceived some  fifty  young  girls  who  had  completely  stripped  them- 
selves for  their  ablutions,  and  some  of  them,  in  this  condition, 
were  laughing  and  romping  without  thinking  whether  or  not 
they  might  be  seen  by  passers-by. 

The  child  remonstrated  with  them,  telling  them  that  it  was 
not  decent ;  they  began  to  laugh  and  to  throw  water  in  his  face. 

Seeing  which,  Christna,  by  a  gesture,  sent  ail  their  clothes, 
scattered  on  the  sands,  to  the  top  of  a  tamarind  tree,  thus 
making  it  impossible  for  them  to  dress  themselves  on  coming 
out  of  the  water. 

Perceiving  then  their  fault,  the  young  girls  implored  pardon, 
which  was  accorded  on  condition  of  the  promise  which  they 
made  ever  after  to  wear  a  veil  when  they  came  to  the  sacred 
river  to  make  their  ablutions. 

The  Jesuits  have  seizea  upon  this  legend,  recounting  it  after 
their  own  fashion,  and  making  it  appear  that  Christna  had  but 
removed  the  clothes  of  the  young  girls,  to  see  them  more  at  his 
leisure  in  their  nudity. 

This  version  is  consistent  with  their  programme,  and  need 
not  surprise  us.     Not  permitted  to  acknowledge  Choistna,  they 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  2$1 

combat  him  with  their  usual  weapons,  and  we  know  how  clever 
they  are  at  altering  texts,  and  at  seeing  what  nobody  else  has 
ever  been  able  to  find. 

Have  we  not  seen  them  attempting  to  garble  certain  chapters 
of  modem  history?  what  wonder  if  the  same  spirit  presides  in 
their  Oriental  missions  ? 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CHRISTNA  BEGINS  TO  PREACH  THE  NEW  LAW  —  HIS  DISCIPLES  — 

ARDJOUNA,     HIS     MOST    ZEALOUS     COADJUTOR CONVERSION 

OF   SARAWASTA. 

At  the  age  of  scarce  sixteen,  Cliristna  quitted  his  mother  and 
his  relative  Nanda,  to  perambulate  India  in  preaching  the  new 
doctrine. 

In  this  second  period  of  his  life,  Hindoo  poetry  represents 
him  as  in  constant  strife  against  the  perverse  spirit,  not  only  of 
the  people,  but  also  of  princes ;  he  surmounts  extraordineiry 
dangers ;  contends,  single-handed,  against  whole  armies  sent  to 
destroy  him ;  strews  his  way  with  miracles,  lesuscitating  the 
dead,  healing  lepers,  restoring  the  deaf  and  the  blind,  every- 
where supporting  the  weak  against  the  strong,  the  oppressed 
against  the  powerful,  and  loudly  proclaiming  to  all,  that  he  is 
the  second  person  of  the  trinity,  that  is,  Vischnou,  come  vpon 


f  38  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

earth  to  redeem  man  from  original  transgression,  to  eject  th« 
spirit  of  evil,  and  to  restore  the  reign  of  good. 

And  the  populations  crowded  his  way,  eager  for  his  sublime 
instruction,  and  they  adored  hiin  as  a  God,  saying,  "  This  is  in 
deed  the  redeemer  promised  to  our  fathers  I " 

We  put  aside  the  miraculous  events  of  the  life  of  this  reformer, 
which,  like  all  the  acts  for  that  matter  assigned  to  differeni 
prophets,  who,  at  different  epochs,  have  appeared  on  earth, 
seem  to  us  to  belong  only  to  legend. 

I  believe  no  more  in  Christna,  God  and  worker  of  miracles, 
than  I  believe  in  other  incarnations  or  other  messengers  of  the 
Supreme  Being  who  call  themselves  Boudha  or  Zoroaster,  Ma- 
nou  or  Moses,  Christ  or  Mahomet.  But  I  believe  in  Christna, 
philosopher  and  moralist,  I  admire  his  lessons,  so  sublime  and 
so  pure,  that,  later,  the  founder  of  Christianity  in  Europe  per 
ceived  that  he  could  not  do  better  than  imitate  them. 

After  some  years  of  preaching,  the  Hindoo  reformer  felt  the 
necessity  of  surrounding  himself  with  earnest  and  courageous 
disciples  to  whom  he  might  delegate  the  duty  of  continuing  his 
work,  after  having  initiated  them  in  his  doctrines. 

Amongst  those  who  had  for  some  time  most  assiduously  fol- 
lowed him  in  his  peregrinations,  he  distinguished  Ardjouna,  a 
young  man  of  one  of  the  chief  families  of  Madura,  and  who  had 
left  all  to  attach  himself  to  him ;  he  confided  to  him  his  project?;, 
and  Ardjouna  swore  to  devote  life  to  his  service  and  to  thj 
propagation  of  his  ideas. 

Gradually  they  were  joined  by  a  small  troop  of  the  faithful, 
who  participated  in  their  fatigues,  their  labors  and  their  faith. 

They  led  a  life  of  hardship,  and  we  understand  that  the  equal- 
izing precepts  or  Christna,  his  example,  and  the  purity  of  his 
life  had  wakened  the  people  from  their  lethargy ;  a  spark  of  re- 
viving vitality  began  to  circulate  throughout  India,  a,nd  the 
partisans  of  the  past,  as  well  as  the  rajahs,  urged  q&  by  the 
tyrant  of  Madura,  ceased  not  to  lay  snares  for  them-,  and  to 
persecute  them,  for  they  felt  their  power  and  their  thronei 
tremble  before  the  rising  popular  wave. 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  2$^ 

But  nothing  succeeded  with  them  :  it  appeared  as  if  a  power, 
more  potent  than  them  all,  had  determined  to  frustrate  tlieir 
designs,  and  to  protect  the  proscripts. 

Sometimes  whole  villages  rose  and  chased  the  soldiers  sent  to 
arrest  Christna  and  his  disciples ;  sometimes  the  soldiers  them- 
selves, moved  and  persuaded  by  the  divine  word  of  the  prophet, 
threw  away  their  arms  and  besought  his  pardon. 

One  day,  even  a  chief  of  the  troops  sent  against  the  reformer, 
and  who  had  sworn  to  withstand  both  fear  and  persuasion, 
having  surprised  Christna  in  an  isolated  place,  was  so  struck 
with  his  majestic  bearing  that  he  stripped  himself  of  his  symbols 
of  command,  and  entreated  to  be  admitted  into  the  number  of 
the  faithful.  His  prayer  was  granted  and  from  that  moment  the 
new  faith  had  no  more  ardent  disciple  and  defender  than  him- 
self 

His  name  was  Sarawasta. 

Often  Christna  disappeared  from  the  midst  of  his  disciples, 
leaving  them  alone,  as  if  to  prove  them  in  the  most  difficult 
moments,  suddenly  re-appearing  amongst  them  to  restore  their 
sinking  courage  and  to  withdraw  them  from  danger. 

During  these  absences  Ardjouna  governed  the  little  com- 
munity, and  took  the  master's  place  at  sacrifice  and  prayer,  and 
all  submitted  without  murmer  to  his  commands. 

But,  as  we  have  already  said,  the  actions  of  Christna' s  life  are 
less  important  to  us  than  a  knowledge  of  his  precepts  and  hi  J 
morale. 

He  came  not  to  found  a  new  religion,  for  God  could  not 
destroy  what  He  had  once  for  all  declared  good,  and  revealed ; 
his  object  was  but  to  purify  the  old  from  all  the  turpitudes,  all 
the  impurities,  which  from  many  ages  the  perverseness  of  men 
had  gradually  introduced,  and  he  succeeded,  despite  all  the 
hatreds  and  all  the  antagonism  of  champions  of  the  past. 

At  his  death  the  entire  of  India  had  adopted  his  doctrine  and 
his  principles  ;  a  faith,  vivid,  young,  and  fertile  in  results,  had 
permeated  all  classes,  their  morale  was  purified,  and  the  van- 
<;uished  spirit  of  evil  had  been  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  his 


t40  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

sombre  abode  —  the  regeneration  promised  by  Brahma  wzt 
accomplished. 

The  teaching  of  Christna  was  familiar  and  simple  when 
addressed  to  the  people,  elevated  and  philosophic  in  commu- 
nion with  his  disciples ;  it  is  in  this  double  view  that  we  are 
about  tc  consider  him. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CHRISTNA'S     lessons     to      the     people  — PARABLE    OF     TH« 
FISHERMAN  —  THOUGHTS   AND   MAXIMS. 

Parable  plays  a  large  part  in  the  familiar  instruction  of  the 
Hindoo  redeemer.  Cliristna  preferred  this  symbolic  form  when 
addressing  himself  to  the  people,  who  could  less  readily  com- 
prehend his  philosophic  lessons  on  the  mmortality  of  the  soul 
and  of  future  life. 

This  manner  of  appealing  to  the  intelligence  and  evoking  the 
moral  idea  from  the  action  of  certain  persons  introduced  for  the 
purpose,  is  conformable  to  Oriental  habits,  and  we  know  that 
fable  and  allegory  are  the  produce  of  Asiatic  literature. 

Nothing,  we  think,  will  render  the  popular  labors  of  Christna 
more  comprehensible  than  citation  of  one  of  his  most  celebra- 
ted pasfables,  that  of  the  fisherman,  which  is  held  in  such  hi«;h 


HINDOO   4;ENESIS.  94I 

respect  and  honor  in  India,  as  to  be  carefully  impressed  upon 
the  memories  of  children  from  the  most  tender  age. 

Christna  was  returning  from  a  distant  expedition,  and  re- 
entering Madura  with  his  disciples.  The  ^habitants  flocked 
in  crowds  to  meet  him  and  to  strew  his  way  with  branches. 

At  some  leagues  from  the  city  the  people  halted,  demanding 
to  hear  the  holy  word ;  Christna  mounted  a  little  eminence  that 
overlooked  the  crowd,  and  thus  began : 

The  Parable  of  the  Fisherman. 

"  On  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  above  the  place  where  its 
sacred  course  divides  itself  into  a  hundred  arms,  lived  a  poor 
fisherman  of  the  name  of  Dourga. 

"  At  dawn  he  proceeded  to  the  river  to  make  his  ablutions 
after  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  holy  books ;  and  holding  in 
his  hand  a  freshly  cut  sprig  of  the  divine  herb,  cousa,  he  piously 
repeated  the  prayer  of  the  Savitri,  preceded  by  the  three  mys- 
terious words  :  Bhour,  Bhouvah,  Shouar  (Earth,  -^ther, 
Heaven)  ;  then,  soul  and  body  thus  purified,  he  went  courage- 
ously to  work  to  supply  the  wants  of  his  large  family. 

"The  Lord  had  given  him  by  his  wife,  whom  he  had  married 
at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  in  all  the  flower  of  her  virgin  beauty, 
six  sons  and  four  daughters,  who  were  his  joy,  for  they  were 
pious  and  good  like  himself 

"  His  eldest  son  was  already  able  to  assist  him  in  conducting 
his  boat  and  casting  his  nets,  and  his  daughters,  confined  to  thn 
interior  of  the  house,  wove  the  long  and  silky  hairs  of  the  goat 
to  make  vestments,  and  pounded  for  their  repast,  the  ginger, 
the  coriander,  and  the  safiron,  for  a  paste,  which,  mixed  with 
the  juice  of  red  pepper,  should  serve  to  dress  the  fish. 

"  In  spite  of  continued  labor,  the  family  was  poor ;  for,  jeal- 
ous of  his  honesty  and  his  virtues,  the  other  fishers  had  com- 
bined against  Dourga,  and  pursued  him  with  their  daily  ill- 
treatment, 

**  Now  they  deranged  his  nets,  or  during  the  night  drew  his 
boat  up  into  the  sands,  that  he  might  lose  the  whole  next  day 
in  restoring  it  to  the  water. 


«4*  THE   BIBLE   ISf  INDIA. 

"  Again,  when  on  his  way  to  the  city  to  sell  the  produce  ol 
his  fishing,  they  would  snatch  his  fish  firom  him  by  force,  or 
throw  them  into  the  dust,  that,  seeing  them  thus  soiled  nobody 
might  buy  them. 

"  Very  often  Dourga  returned  in  sadness  to  his  hut,  thinking 
that  ere  long  he  would  be  unable  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  his 
family.  Nevertheless,  he  failed  not  to  present  the  finest  fish 
he  caught  to  saintly  hermits,  and  received  all  the  miserable 
who  came  knocking  at  his  door,  sheltered  them  under  his  roof, 
and  shared  with  them  the  little  he  possessed,  which  was  a  con- 
stant subject  of  derision  and  mockery  for  his  enemies,  who 
directed  all  the  beggars  they  met  to  him,  saying  to  them,  *  Go, 
wnd  find  Dourga,  he  is  a  disguised  prince,  who  only  fishes  from 
caprice." 

"  And  thus  did  they  ridicule  the  misery  which  was  tiieir  own 
work. 

"But  the  times  became  very  hard  for  all  the  world:  a 
frightful  famine  desolated  the  whole  country,  rice  and  smaller 
grains  having  completely  failed  at  the  last  harvest.  The 
fishers,  enemies  of  Dourga,  were  very  soon  as  miserable  as 
himself,  and,  in  their  common  misfortune,  no  longer  thought 
of  tormenting  him. 

"  One  evening,  as  the  poor  man  returned  fi"om  the  Ganges 
without  having  caught  the  smallest  fish,  remembering  bitterly 
that  nothing  remained  in  his  hut,  he  found  a  little  child  at  the 
foot  of  a  tamarind  tree,  weeping,  and  calling  for  its  mother, 
Dourga  demanded  of  it  whence  it  came,  and  who  had  thus 
abandoned  it. 

"The  child  replied  that  its  mother  had  left  it  there,  sayiDg 
she  was  going  to  seek  it  something  to  eat. 

"Moved  with  pity,  Dourga  took  the  poor  little  one  in  his 
arms,  and  conveyed  it  to  his  house ;  his  wife,  who  was  good 
and  kind,  said  hz  had  done  well  not  to  leave  it  to  die  of 
hunger. 

"But  there  was  no  more  lice,  nor  smoked  fish;  the  cuny 


HINDOO  GENSSIS.  943 

Btone  had  not  resounded  that  evening  in  the  hands  of  the 

young  girls  who  strike  it  in  cadence. 

"  The  moon  rose  silently  in  the  celestial  concave ;  the  whole 
family  assembled  for  the  evening  invocation. 

"All  at  v)nce  the  little  child  began  to  sing: 

***The  fruit  of  the  cataca  purifies  water,  so  good  actions 
purify  the  soul.  Take  your  nets,  Dourga,  your  boat  floats  on 
the  Ganges,  and  the  fish  await. 

"'This  is  the  thirteenth  night  of  the  moon,  the  shadow  of 
the  elephant  falls  to  the  east ;  the  manes  of  ancestors  demand 
honey,  clarified  butter,  and  boiled  rice ;  the  offering  must  be 
presented.  Take  thy  nets,  Dourga,  thy  boat  is  on  the  Ganges 
and  the  fish  attend. 

"  *  Thou  shalt  give  a  feast  to  the  poor,  where  nectar  skall 
flow  as  abundantly  as  the  waters  of  the  sacred  river.  Thou 
shalt  offer  to  the  Roudras,  and  the  Adytias  (deceased  ances- 
tors), the  flesh  of  a  red-fleeced  goat,  for  the  times  of  trial 
are  completed.  Take  thy  nets,  Dourga,  thirteen  times  shalt 
thou  cast  them ;  thy  bark  floats  on  the  Ganges,  and  the  fish 
await.' 

"Dourga,  amazed,  thought  it  a  notice  sent  him  from 
above — he  took  his  nets,  and,  with  the  strongest  of  his  sons^ 
descended  to  the  water's  edge. 

"  The  child  followed  them,  entered  the  boat  with  them,  and^ 
having  taken  an  oar,  directed  their  course. 

"Thirteen  times  were  the  nets  cast  into  the  water,  and 
at  each  cast  the  boat,  bending  under  the  weight  and  the 
number  of  fish,  was  obliged  to  return  and  lighten  itself  of 
its  load  on  the  shore.  And  the  last  time  the  infant  disap- 
;>eaied. 

"Full  of  joy,  Dourga  hastened  to  relieve  the  hunger  of 
his  children ;  then,  immediately  remembering  that  there  were 
other  sufferings  to  soothe,  he  ran  to  his  neighbors,  the  fisher- 
men, forgetting  the  evil  he  had  received  firom  them,  to  share 
with  them  liis  abundance. 

**  These  flocked  in  crowds,  not   daring  to  believe  in  sudj 


S44  THE  BIBLE  IK  INDIA. 

generosity,  and  Dourga,  on  the  spot,  distributed  sjuongst  tksai 
the  remains  of  his  miraculous  capture. 

"  During  the  whole  time  of  the  famine,  Dourga  continued 
not  only  to  feed  his  old  enemies,  but  also  to  receive  all  the 
unhappy  who  crowded  about  him.  He  had  but  to  cast  his 
nets  into  the  Ganges,  to  obtain  immediately  all  the  fish  he 
could  desire. 

"The  famine  over,  the  hand  of  God  continued  to  protect 
him ;  and  he  became  at  last  so  rich,  that  he  was  able  alone 
to  build  a  temple  to  Brahma  of  such  sumptuous  magnificence, 
that  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  the  globe  came  in  crowds  to  visit 
it  and  to  offer  their  devotions. 

"And  it  is  thus,  inhabitants  of  Madura,  that  you  should 
protect  weakness,  aid  each  other,  and  never  remember  the 
offences  of  an  enemy  in  his  misfortune" 

Let  us  now  at  hazard,  gather  a  few  from  the  abundant 
legacy  of  maxims  with  which  it  was  his  pleasure  to  sprinkle 
his  familiar  instructions. 

**  Men  who  have  no  self-command,  are  not  capable  of  fulfill- 
ing their  duties." 

"Pleasure  and  riches  should  be  renounced  when  not  ap- 
proved by  conscience." 

"  The  wrongs  we  inflict  upon  our  neighbors,  follow  us  like 
our  shadow." 

"  The  knowledge  of  man  is  but  vanity,  all  his  best  actions 
are  illusory,  when  he  knows  not  to  ascribe  them  to  God." 

"  Love  of  his  fellow-creature  should  be  the  ruling  principle 
of  the  just  man  in  all  his  works,  for  such  weigh  most  in  the 
celestial  balance." 

"  He  who  is  humble  in  heart  and  in  spirit,  is  loved  oi  God  j 
he  has  need  of  nothing  more." 

"  As  the  body  is  strengthened  by  m'lscles,  the  soul  is  forti* 
fied  by  virtue," 

"There  is  no  greater  sinner  than  he  who  covets  the  wife  of 
his  neighbor." 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  94$ 

We  call  attention  to  the  following  maxim,  which  many 
believed  to  be  of  only  yesterday : 

"As  the  earth  supports  those  who  trample  it  under  foot,  and 
rend  its  bosom  with  the  plough,  so  should  we  return  good  for 
evil." 

"If  you  frequent  the  society  of  the  good,  your  example 
is  useless,  fear  not  to  dwell  amidst  the  wicked  for  their 
conversion." 

"  If  one  inhabitant  can  cause  the  ruin  of  a  whole  village 
he  should  be  expelled ;  if  a  village  can  ruin  a  whole  district, 
it  should  be  destroyed ;  but  if  a  district  occasioned  loss  of  the 
soul,  it  should  be  abandoned." 

"Whatever  services  we  render  to  perverse  spirits,  the 
good  we  do  them  resembles  characters  written  upon  water, 
which  are  effaced  as  we  trace  them.  But  the  good  should  be 
done  for  its  own  sake,  for  it  is  not  on  earth  we  should  expect 
reward." 

"When  we  die  our  riches  remain  behind;  our  relatives 
and  our  friends  only  follow  us  to  the  tomb ;  but  our  virtues 
and  our  vices,  our  good  actions  and  our  faults,  follow  us  in 
the  other  life." 

"The  virtuous  man  is  like  the  gigantic  Banyan  tree,  whose 
beneficent  shade  affords  freshness  and  life  to  the  plants  that 
surround  it." 

"  Science  is  useless  to  a  man  without  judgment,  as  a  mirror 
to  a  blind  man." 

"The  man  who  only  appreciates  means,  according  as  they 
conduce  to  his  success,  soon  loses  his  perception  of  the  jt»t, 
and  of  sound  doctrines." 

(For  you,  gentlemen,  casuists,  inventors  of  the  maxim,  *ihi 
end  justifies  the  means '  /) 

"The  infinite  and  the  boundless  can  alone  comprehend 
the  boundless  and  the  infinite,  God  only  can  comprehend 
God" 

"  The  honest  man  should  faL  before  the  blowj  of  the  wicked 


246  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

as  the  sandal-tree  that,  felled  by  the  woodmar's  stroke,  per- 
fumes the  axe  that  wounds  it." 

Listen  now  to  the  counsels  of  Christna  to  the  just  man 
who  would  sanctify  himself  in  the  Lord  and  merit  eternal 
recompense :  — 

"  Let  him  devote  himself  each  day  to  all  the  practices  of 
pious  devotion,  and  submit  his  body  to  the  most  meritorious 
austerities. 

"  Let  him  fear  all  worldly  honor  worse  than  poison,  and  feel 
only  contempt  for  this  world's  riches. 

"  Let  him  well  know  that  what  is  above  all,  is  the  respect  of 
himself  and  the  love  of  his  fellow  creatures. 

"  Let  him  abstain  from  anger,  and  from  all  evil  treatment, 
even  towards  animals,  whom  we  ought  to  respect  in  the 
imperfection  that  God  has  assigned  them.* 

**Let  him  chase  away  sensual  desires,  envy  and  cupidity. 

"  Let  him  refrain  from  the  dance,  the  song,  music,  fermented 
drinks,  and  gambling. 

"Let  him  never  be  guilty  of  evil-speaking,  calumnies,  or 
impostures. 

"  Let  him  never  look  at  women  with  love,  and  abstain  from 
embracing  them. 

"  Let  him  have  no  quarrels. 

"  Let  his  house,  his  diet,  and  his  clothes  be  always  of  the 
plainest. 

"Let  his  right  hand  be  always  open  to  the  poor  and  the  un- 
happy, and  let  him  never  boast  his  benefits. 

"  When  a  poor  man  shall  knock  at  his  door,  let  him  receive 
him,   refresh  him  by  washing  his  feet,   serve  him    himself, 


*  Now  it  was  one  of  the  most  important  services  of  Christianity 
that  besides  quickening  greatly  our  benevolent  affections,  it  definitely 
gmd  dogmatically  asserted  the  sinfulness  of  all  destruction  of  himia« 
life  as  a  matter  of  amusement  or  of  simple  convenience,  and  thereby 
formed  a  new  standard,  higher  than  any  which  then  existed  in  th« 
world."  —  Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals^  vol  ii.  ,  p.  ax-3. 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  t47 

and  eat  what  remains,  for  the  poor  are  the  chcsen  of  the 
Lord. 

"  But,  above  all,  let  him  refrain  through  the  whole  course  of 
his  life  from,  in  whatever  way,  molesting  others  ;  protect,  love, 
and  assist  his  fellow-creatures,  thence  flow  the  virtues  most 
agreeable  to  God. 

It  is  thus  that  Christna  diffused  amongst  this  people 
healthy  doctrines  of  the  purest  morale,  thus  that  he  initiated 
his  auditors  in  the  grand  principles  of  charity,  of  abnegation, 
and  of  self-respect,  at  an  epoch  when  the  desert  countries  of 
the  West  were  still  only  occupied  by  the  savage  hordes  of  the 
forests. 

What,  then,  has  our  civilization,  so  proud  of  its  progresi 
and  its  enlightenment,  what  has  it  added  to  these  sublim* 
lessons  ? 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

christna's  philosophic  teaching. 

It  IS  necessary  to  read  in  the  Sanscrit  text  itself,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  Bagaveda-Gita,  the  sublime  discourses  of  Christna 
with  his  disciples,  and  particularly  with  Ardjouna,  to  compre- 
hend that  the  enlightenment  which  has  been  reflected  even  to  yi% 
bad  their  long  existed  in  the  East 


84^  THE  BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

Problems  of  the  most  lofty  philosophy,  a  morale  the  most 
pure,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  future  destinies  of  the 
man  who  shall  have  lived  according  to  the  law  of  God  ;  all  are 
treated  of  in  these  sublime  monologues,  where  the  auditor's 
r61e  is  only  to  give  replies,  and  thus  afford  the  professor  an 
opening  for  new  lessons. 

In  our  inability  to  give,  within  our  confined  space,  the  devel 
opment  becoming  these  great  subjects,  we  shall  confine  our- 
selves to  reproduction  of  the  discourse  of  Christna  on  the 
immortaHty  of  the  soul ;  it  will  suffice  to  judge  the  others. 

Ardjouna : 

Canst  thou  not  tell  us,  O  Christna,  what  is  that  pure  fluid 
which  we  have  received  from  the  Lord,  and  which  must  return 
to  Him  again  ? 

Christna : 

The  soul  is  the  principle  of  life  which  Sovereign  Wisdom 
employed  to  animate  bodies,  matter  is  inert  and  perishable, 
the  soul  thinks  and  acts,  and  it  is  immortal.  Of  thought  is 
born  will,  and  of  the  will  is  born  action.  Thence  it  is  that 
man  is  the  most  perfect  of  terrestrial  creatures,  for  he 
operates  freely  in  intellectual  nature,  knowing  to  distinguish 
the  true  from  the  false,  the  just  from  the  unjust,  good  from 
evil. 

That  inward  knowledge,  that  will  which  conveys  itself  by  the 
judgment  towards  what  it  likes,  and  withdraws  itself  from  what 
it  dislikes,  renders  the  soul  responsible  for  its  action,  responsi- 
ble for  its  choice,  and  for  this  cause  has  God  established  rewards 
and  punishments. 

When  the  soul  follows  the  eternal  and  pure  light  that  guides 
it,  naturally  it  is  inclined  to  the  good. 

Evil,  on  the  contrary,  triumphs  when  it  forgets  its  origin,  and 
submits  to  be  governed  by  exterior  influences. 

The  soul  is  immortal,  and  must  return  into  tfie  Great  Soul 
from  which  it  issued  ;  but  as  it  was  given  to  man  pure  from  all 
stain,  it  cannot  re-ascend  to  the  celestial  abode  until  it  shall 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  249 

have  been  purified  from  all  the  faults  committed  through  itf 
union  with  matter. 

Ardjouna : 

How  is  this  purifiction  effected  ? 

Christna : 

The  soul  is  purified  by  a  shorter  or  longer  course,  according 
to  its  faults,  in  the  infernal  heavens  (hell),  the  exclusion  im- 
posed upon  it  from  re-union  with  the  Great  WTiole,  is  the  great- 
est infliction  that  it  can  feel,  for  its  desire  is  to  return  to  the  prim- 
itive source  and  to  merge  itself  into  the  soul  of  all  that  exists. 

Ardjouna: 

WTience  comes  the  imperfection  of  the  human  soul,  which  is 
a  portion  of  the  Great  Soul  ? 

Christna : 

The  soul  is  not  imperfect  in  its  pure  essence,  the  light 
of  this  sublime  ahancara  does  not  draw  its  obscurity  from 
itself;  if  there  existed  in  the  nature  of  the  soul  a  germ  of 
imperfection,  nothing  could  destroy  it,  and  this  germ  develop- 
ing itself,  the  soul  would  be  perishable  and  mortal  as  well  as 
the  body.  From  its  union  with  matter  alone  comes  its  imper- 
fection, but  that  imperfection  does  not  affect  its  essence,  for  it 
is  not  in  its  cause,  which  is  the  supreme  intelligence,  which  is 
God. 

We  must,  here,  in  spite  of  ourselves,  arrest  this  citation. 
Its  continuation  affords  Christna  occasion  to  rise  into  regions 
of  the  most  subtle  metaphysics,  and  his  reasoning  would  not, 
we  think,  be  perfectly  understood,  except  by  people  who  had 
devoted  their  lives  to  the  particular  study  and  explored  the 
depths  of  philosophic  sciences. 

Moreover,  this  simple  glance  sufiices  completely  to  elucidate 
the  conclusions  which  we  profess  to  draw  from  the  work  of  the 
Hindoo  reformer. 

To  epitomize  : 

Christna  came  to  preach  to  India  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
free  will,  that  is  to  say,  fireedom  of  thought  and  liberty  of  per- 


25©  THE    BIBLE    IN   INDIA. 

son,  belief  in  merit  and  demerit,  in  reward  and  /cirislmient  ii 
the  life  of  the  future. 

He  came  to  teach  the  peoples  charity,  love  of  each  other, 
self-respect,  the  practice  of  good  for  its  own  sake,,  and  faith  in 
the  inexhaustible  good-will  of  the  Creator. 

He  proscribed  revenge,  coni.:riianded  to  return  good  for  evil^ 
consoled  the  feeble,  sustained  the  unhappy  and  the  oppressed, 
denounced  tyranny. 

He  lived  poor  and  loved  the  poor. 

He  lived  chaste  and  prescribed  chastity. 

He  was,  we  hesitate  not  to  declare,  the  grandest  figure  of 
ancient  times,  and  it  was  from  his  work  of  regeneration,  that 
Christ,  at  a  later  period,  inspired  himself,  as  Moses  had  been 
inspired  by  the  works  of  Manes  and  Manou. 

A  few  more  lines  and  we  shall  have  finished,  too  briefly,  per- 
haps, with  this  redeemer,  to  take  up  the  role  played  by  his  suc- 
cessors in  India,  who,  step  by  step,  forgot  the  sublime  traditions 
of  the  Master,  to  plunge  the  people,  for  the  benefit  of  their 
domination,  into  a  moral  degradation  and  abasement,  that  ren- 
dered possible  the  absorbing  and  despotic  reign  of  ancient 
theocracies,  issue,  as  we  have  seen,  cf  Hindoo  Brahminisra. 


VVINDOO   GENESIS.  25 1 


CHAPTER  XV. 

rRANSFIGURATION    OF    CHRISTNA  —  HIS    DISCIPLES    GltE    HIM 
THE   NAME   OF   JEZEUS    (PURE   ESSENCE.) 

Then,  one  day,  when  the  tyrant  of  Madura  had  sent  a  large 
army  against  Christna  and  his  disciples,  the  disciples,  terrified, 
sought  to  escape  by  flight  from  the  danger  that  menaced 
them. 

The  faith  of  Ardjouna  himself  seemed  staggered ;  Christna, 
who  was  praying  near  them,  having  heard  their  complaints,  ad- 
vanced to  their  midst,  and  said  :  — 

"  Why  are  your  spirits  possessed  with  senseless  fear  ?  Know 
you  not,  then,  who  is  he  that  is  with  you  ?  " 

And  then,  abandoning  the  mortal  form,  he  appeared  to  theii 
eyes  in  all  the  eclat  of  his  Divine  Majesty,  his  brow  encircled 
with  such  light  that  Ardjouna  and  his  companions,  unable  to 
support  it,  threw  themselves  on  their  faces  in  the  dust,  and 
prayed  the  Lord  to  pardon  their  unworthy  weakness. 

And  Christna,  having  resumed  his  first  form,  farther  said: 
"Have  you  not,  then,  faith  in  me  ?  Know  that,  present  or  al> 
sent,  I  shall  always  be  in  your  midst  to  protect  you." 

And  they,  believing  from  what  they  had  seen,  promised  nevei 
thereafter  to  doubt  his  power  j  and  they  named  him  Jezeus, 
that  is  to  say  issue  of  the  pure  divine  essence. 

(Bagaveda-Gita.) 


'M$n  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA 


CHAPTER  XVL 

CHRISTNA     AND     THE     TWO      HOLY     WOMEN,     NICHDALI     AND 
SARASVATI. 

Christna  walked  in  the  neighborhood  of  Madura  with  his  dis- 
ciples, followed  by  a  great  crowd  eager  to  behold  him,  and  they 
said  on  all  sides,  "  Behold  him  who  delivered  us  from  the  tyrant 
who  oppressed  us,"  making  allusion  to  Kansa,  who  had  suffered 
the  penalty  of  his  crimes,  and  whom  Christna  had  expelled 
from  Madura. 

And  they  said  further,  "Behold  him  who  resuscitates  the 
dead,  heals  the  lame,  the  deaf,  and  the  blind." 

"WTien  two  women  of  the  lowest  extraction  drew  near  to 
Christna,  and  having  poured  upon  his  head  the  perfumes  which 
they  had  brought  in  a  little  brazen  vase,  they  worshipped  him. 

And  as  the  people  munnured  at  their  boldness,  Christna 
kindly  said  to  them  : 

"Women,  I  accept  your  sacrifice,  the  little  which  is  given 
by  the  heart  is  of  more  worth  than  all  the  riches  ofifered  by 
ostentation.     What  desire  you  of  me  ? 

"Lord,"  answered  they,  "the  brows  of  our  husbands  are 
doudei  with  care,  happiness  has  fled  from  our  homes,  for  God 
has  refused  us  the  joy  of  being  mothers." 

And  Christna  having  raised  them,  for  they  had  knelt  and  were 
kissing  his  feet,  said  to  them,  "Your  demand  shall  be  grantei^ 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  253 

for  you   have  believed  in  me,  and  joy   shall  re-enter  your 
houses." 

Some  time  thereafter,  these  two  women  named  Nichdali  and 
Sarasvati  were  delivered  each  of  a  son,  and  these  two  children 
aftenvards  became  holy  personages  whom  the  Hindoos  still 
reverence  under  the  names  of  Soudama  a.nd  Soudasa. 

(Bagaveda-Gita.) 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

CHRIStNA  GOES  TO    PERFORM  HIS  ABLUTIONS  AT  THE   GANGES 
—  HIS   DEATH. 

The  work  of  redemption  was  accomplished,  all  India  felt  a 
younger  blood  circulate  in  its  veins,  everywhere  labor  was  sane 
tified  by  prayer,  hope  and  faith  warmed  all  hearts. 

Christiva  understood  that  the  hour  had  come  for  him  to  quilt 
the  earth,  and  to  return  into  the  bosom  of  him  who  had  sent 
him. 

Forbidding  his  disciples  to  follow  him,  he  went,  one  day,  to 
make  his  ablutions  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  and  wash  out 
the  stains  that  his  mortal  envelope  might  have  contracted  in  the 
struggles  of  every  nature  which  he  had  been  obliged  to  sustain 
against  the  partisans  of  the  past. 

Arrived  at  the  sacred  river,  he  plunged  himself  three  times 


254  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

therein,  then,  kneeling  and  looking  to  heaven,  he  prayed,  ex* 

pecting  death. 

In  this  position  he  was  pierced  with  arrows  by  one  of  thosa 
whose  crimes  he  had  unveiled,  and  who,  hearing  of  his  journey 
to  the  Ganges,  had,  with  a  strong  troop,  followed  with  the  design 
of  assasanating  him. 

This  man  was  named  Angada.  According  to  popular  belief 
condemned,  for  his  crime,  to  an  eternal  life  on  earth,  he  wanders 
the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  having  no  other  food  than  the  remains 
of  the  dead,  on  which  he  feeds  constantly,  in  company  with 
jackals  and  other  unclean  animals. 

The  body  of  the  God-man  was  suspended  to  the  branches  of 
a  tree  by  his  murderer,  that  it  might  become  the  prey  of  vul- 
*ures. 

News  of  the  death  having  spread,  the  people  came  in  a  crowd 
conducted  by  Ardjouna,  the  dearest  of  the  disciples  of  Christna, 
to  recover  his  sacred  remains.  But  the  mortal  frame  of  the 
Redeemer  had  disappeared — no  doubt  it  had  regained  the 
celestial  abodes  .  .  .  and  the  tree  to  which  it  had  been 
attached  had  become  suddenly  covered  with  great  red  flowers 
and  diffused  around  it  the  sweetest  perfumes. 

Thus  ended  Christna,  victim  of  the  wickedness  of  those  who 
would  not  recognize  his  law,  and  who  had  been  expelled  from 
amidst  the  people  because  of  their  vices  and  their  hypocrisy. 

(Bagaveda-Gita  and  Brahminical  traditions.) 


SDTDOO  GENISTA  'ftCC 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


SOME   WORDS   OF   EXPLANATION. 


I  do  not  fear  that  any  thinking  Orientalist  will  come  for- 
ward in  the  least  to  contradict  what  I  have  advanced  about  the 
Virgin  Devanaguy  and  her  son  Christna.  Doubtless  they  have 
long  understood  that  the  modem  myths  of  the  Hindoo  religion 
and  of  poetry  are  the  produce  of  decay  and  of  the  superstitions 
which  the  Bralimins  allowed  to  impress  themselves  on  the 
spirits  of  the  masses,  to  the  profit  of  their  own  domina- 
tion. 

If,  therefore,  I  have  rejected  all  the  heroic  adventures  in 
which  Hindoo  poets  introduce  Christna,  it  is  that  they  are  th< 
after-inventions  of  that  Oriental  imagination,  which  knows  n<^ 
bounds  in  the  domain  of  the  marvellous. 

The  most  celebrated  poems  on  Christna  date  no  farther 
back  than  the  Maha-Bharat,  which  was  wTitten  about  two  cen- 
turies before  our  era,  that  is,  more  than  three  thousand  years 
after  the  death  of  the  Hindoo  reformer.  These  productions 
had  their  origin  in  the  idea  that  the  Divinity  is  constantly  oc&— 
pied  in  directing  human  contests  and  human  affairs  at  his  will, 
and  in  distributing,  even  on  earth,  rewards  and  punishments  to 
the  good  or  to  the  evil-doer. 

It  is  the  same  idea  that  pervades  ancient  Egyptian,  Greek, 
and  Hebrew  civilizations,  offspring  as  we  have  demonstrated  d 


■9$6  'THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

that  period  during  which  India,  forgetting  the  pure  traditionf 
of  the  Vedas  and  of  Christna,  threw  herself  into  the  arras  of 
saints,  of  heroes,  and  of  demi-gods. 

Permit  us  to  take  an  example  from  our  modem  times  in  ex- 
emplification of  the  absolute  necessity  of  utterly  repudiating 
Hindoo  poetry  when  seeking  to  appreciate  Christna,  and  of  ad- 
hering to  works  of  pure  theology,  to  the  teaching  of  Brahmins, 
and  to  the  traditions  preserved  in  their  temples. 

Some  attempts  were  made  amongst  ourselves  during  the  six- 
teenth century,  to  supersede  the  introduction  in  epic  poetry,  of 
Mars,  of  Jupiter,  of  Juno,  of  Venus,  of  Minerva,  by  substituting 
Christ,  the  apostles,  angels,  saints.  The  Jerusalem  delivered 
of  Tasso  had  served  as  a  model. 

Had  such  a  custom  become  general  (and  without  doubt  it 
would  have  succeeded  in  the  East),  would  not  inquirers,  seek- 
ing, after  two  or  three  thousand  years,  to  exhume  the  past, 
have  been  obliged,  especially  if  Western  civilizations  had  be- 
come extinct  or  transformed,  or  if  Christianity  had  disappeared, 
to  abjure  poetry  and  legend,  in  forming  a  serious  idea  of  Christ, 
of  his  Apostles  and  his  doctrine,  under  pain  of  finding  these 
personages  mixed  up  in  all  our  civil  and  religious  wars,  and 
being  thus  forced  to  reject  them  as  the  inventions  of  super- 
stition ? 

My  mode  of  procedure  has  been  no  other  than  this,  and  I 
have  studied  Christna  only  by  his  philosophic  and  moral  revo- 
lution ;  the  sole  point  of  view,  moreover,  under  which  he  is 
considered  by  learned  Brahmins,  who  even  to-day  in  India  con- 
secrate their  lives  to  the  study  of  the  law  and  of  religioui 
truths. 


PTNIKK)   GENESIS.  a<f 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

SUCCESSORS  OF   CHRISTNA — GRANDEUR  AND   DECAY   OF  BRAH- 

MINISM. 

The  immediate  successors  of  Christna  sanctified  themselves 
by  the  practice  of  all  virtues,  a  complete  abnegation  of  self,  and 
hoping  only  in  a  future  life,  they  lived  poor,  and  wholly  occu- 
pied themselves  with  the  celestial  mission  the  Master  had  be- 
queathed them. 

How  splendid  the  figure  of  those  Brahmin  priests  of  the 
ancient  times  of  India !  How  pure  and  majestic  their  worship, 
and  how  worthy  of  the  God  whom  they  served  ! 

We  shall  see,  according  to  the  Manava-Dharma-Sastra  and 
Brahminical  theology,  how  the  priest,  faithful  to  his  duties,  may 
win  immortality  ;  what  are  the  moral  principles  he  should  fol- 
low ;  what  his  imperative  rules  of  conduct ;  what,  in  a  word, 
was  the  priest  of  primitive  times,  whom  it  will  not  be  uninter- 
esting afterwards  to  contrast  with  the  actual  Brahmin. 

Interrogating  our  motives  of  action,  Manou  repels  self-love 
as  littie  commendable,  and  yet  he  finds  nothing  in  tiiis  world 
exempt  firom  it. 

"Of  the  hope  of  a  possible  good,"  says  he,  "is  begotten  the 
faculty  of  exertion  :  the  greatest  sacrifices  have  for  object, 
something  t/>  aa^uire  ;  devout  austerities  and  all  good  actioni 
spring  from  the  hope  of  reward." 

as* 


aSH  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

But  he  immediately  adds: 

"  He  who  has  fulfilled  all  his  duties  to  please  God  alone,  and 
without  expecting  future  recompense,  is  sure  of  immortal  hap« 
piness." 

"  The  most  important  of  all  duties  is  first  lu  study  the  Holy 
Scripture,  which  is  the  word  of  Brahma  and  of  Christna  revealed 
to  men." 

"  The  authority  of  the  divine  revelation  (srouti)  should  be  ii\ 
contestable.  The  Brahmin  priest,  who  would  attain  perfect 
felicity  in  the  other  world,  can  only  do  so  by  submitting  himself, 
without  seeking  to  understand  or  to  comment  upon  the  orders 
of  the  Lord,  in  what  may  appear  to  him  inexplicable. 

"  He  must  also  bend  to  tradition  (smriti)  where  law  has  not 
spoken.  Thus,  if  it  is  permitted  to  common  men  to  be  guided 
by  self-love,  and  the  hope  of  reward,  the  actions  of  the  priest 
should  have  no  motive  but  God  alone,  and  he  has  for  guide 
through  life  the  word  of  the  Lord  which  has  revealed  to  hiio 
his  will;   and  tradition  where  Holy  Scripture  is  silent." 

Denouncing  the  free-thinkers  who  already  in  his  time  at- 
tempted the  reforms  afterwards  realized  by  Boudha,  who  was 
the  Luther  of  India,  Manou  hurls  at  them  this  anathema  : 

"  Let  all  those  who,  embracing  the  profane  opinions  of  the 
enemies  of  the  law  of  God,  refuse  to  recognize  the  authori/y 
of  revelation  and  of  tradition,  be  expelled  as  atheists  and  blas- 
phemers of  the  holy  books." 

The  initiated  Brahmin  should  take  the  vow  of  chastity,  he 
may  not  present  himself  at  the  holy  sacrifice,  which  he  must 
offer  each  morning  to  God,  but  with  heart  and  body  pure. 
And,  in  prostrating  himself  with  respect  at  the  foot  of  the  altar, 
should  he  read  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

The  first  part  of  his  life,  until  about  seventy  years  should  be 
militant.  He  should  instruct  his  fellows  and  direct  them  to 
wards  God,  during  this  time  he  does  not  belong  to  himself;  all 
who  are  unhappy,  all  who  are  afflicted,  should  be  consoled  by 
him.  All  that  is  litde,  poor,  or  helpless,  should  be  sustained 
by  him. 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  959 

Let  us  consider  him  from  his  birth,  for  we  may  almost  say 
that  from  that  moment  his  duties  begin. 

The  advent  of  Christna  upon  earth,  although  it  atoned  origi- 
nal transgression,  did  not  efface  all  stain ;  hence,  should  each 
one  bom  to  the  faith,  be  purified  and  regenerated  at  birth  by 
che  sacred  water  of  the  Ganges,  or,  in  its  default,  by  the  water 
of  purification,  or  holy  water  consecrated  by  the  priest's  prayers 
in  the  temple. 

For  the  Brahmin  destined  to  become  a  Gouroo,  i.  e.,  a  priest 
of  the  divine  law,  this  ceremony  of  purification  is  not  sufficient ; 
f^i  him  is  fruther  ordained  investiture  with  the  sacred  thread,  and 
.ne  tonsure  persistently  practiced  for  life,  from  the  age  of  three 
years. 

Further,  at  the  moment  of  dipping  a  Brahmin,  his  lips  are  to 
be  smeared  with  clarified  butter  and  honey,  and  during  reci- 
tal of  the  prayers  of  consecration. 

The  ceremonies  and  sacrifices  attending  tonsure  are  to  be  re- 
peated in  the  sixth  year  after  birth. 

At  sixteen  years  of  age  all  men  devoted  to  the  Lord  are 
obliged  to  present  themselves  at  the  temple  to  confirm  their 
purification  by  anointment  with  holy  oil,  for  at  that  age  they 
enter  on  their  majority. 

After  that  term,  saith  Manou,  all  those  who  have  not  duly  re- 
ceived this  sacrament,  are  pronounced  unworthy  of  initiatioa 
and  excommunicated. 

(It  is  impossible  to  translate  the  Sanscrit  expression  Vrdiyas^ 
otherwise  than  by  the  word  excommunication,  which  we  have- 
employed.) 

When  the  Brahmin  child  understands  the  act,  he  should  per 
form  his  prayers,  night  and  morning,  erect,  and  with  joined 
hands  ;  by  the  prayer  of  morning  he  atones  the  trifling  faults 
which  he  may  unconsciously  have  committed  in  the  night; 
by  the  prayer  of  night  he  effaces  the  stains  unconsciously  con- 
tracted through  the  day ;  it  is  only  later,  and  after  the  age  of 
sixteen,  that  he  can  be  admitted,  according  to  the  rules  pie- 
icribed  by  the  Holy  Scripture,  to  offer  sacrifice  to  the  Divinity. 


«6o  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

But  before  becoming  a  priest  and  instructor  of  the  faithful, 

the  Brahmin  is  obliged  to  pass  many  years  in  the  schools  of  the- 
ology and  of  philosophy,  where  he  learns  the  science  of  life, 
and  that  of  God  in  which  he  should  instruct  others — this  is  the 
period  of  his  noviciate. 

The  following  are  the  studies  he  pursues  : 

The  Sanscrit^  that  sacred  language  which  God  spoke  when 
he  revealed  himself  to  men. 

Theology,  with  a  complete  treatise  on  religious  ceremonies. 

Philosophy,  more  especially  in  its  bearing  upon  what  consti- 
tutes duty. 

Astronomy. 

Mathematics. 

General  grammar  and  prosody. 

And  lastly,  what  is  considered  most  essential  to  the  priest. 

The  Vedas,  or  Holy  Scriptures,  with  commentaries  and  ex- 
planations of  difficult  or  obscure  passages. 

And,  says  Manou,  if  a  son  should  love  and  respect  his  father 
and  mother  because  he  has  received  from  them  material  life, 
how  much  more  ought  he  to  respect  his  instructor,  his  spiritual 
iather,  who  has  given  him  the  life  of  the  soul  ? 

His  noviciate  over,  the  Brahmin  becomes  a  consecrated  ser- 
vant *imongst  the  servants  of  God,  that  is,  a  priest,  under  the 
following  rules  of  conduct : — 

He  should  subsist  upon  alms,  that  is,  upon  offerings  made  by 
the  faithful  to  the  temple,  for  he  should  have  no  possessions ; 
should  practice  fasting  and  abstinence,  shov/  the  people  an  ex 
ample  of  all  the  virtues,  and  divide  his  time  between  prayer  and 
^the  instruction  which  in  his  turn  he  should  extend  to  neophytes. 

When  the  Brahmin,  from  catechumen,  has  thus  become  priest, 
and  then  professor,  when  he  has  strewed  his  way  with  good 
works,  and  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  life  to  the  service  of 
Ood  and  his  neighbor,  there  remains  for  him  a  last  ordeal  before 
attaining  his  final  absorption  in  the  bosom  of  Divinity. 

I-,et  us  listen  to  the  Holy  Scripture  that  prescribes  his  cott 
duct: 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  26ff 

"  Let  him  l>»  alone,  without  companions,  and  without  dream- 
ing that  he  is  abandoned  of  all  the  world,  and  that  he  has  abai> 
doned  all. 

"  Let  him  have  neither  hearth  nor  house  ;  if  hunger  tormeat 
him,  let  liim  leave  to  God  the  care  of  his  nourishment  —  at  his 
feet  grow  the  herbs  he  shall  eat. 

"  Let  him  desire  not  life,  nor  long  for  death ;  and  as  a  reaper 
at  night  waits  peaceably  for  his  wages  at  the  door  of  the  master, 
so  let  him  wait  until  his  hour  is  come. 

"  Let  him  purify  all  his  actions,  in  consecrating  them  to  the 
Lord. 

"  He  should  bear  offensive  words  with  patience,  have  contempt 
for  none,  and  above  all  guard  against  hatred  of  any  on  behalf  o£ 
this  weak  and  perishable  body. 

"If  he  who  shall  strike  him  let  fall  the  stafif  employed,  let 
him  pick  it  up  and  restore  it  without  murmur. 

(Is  not  this  the  buffet  of  the  New  Testament  ?) 

"  He  should  never  seek  a  subsistence  by  explaining  prodigies 
and  dreams. 

"  Let  him  above  all  guard  against  perverting  the  true  spirit  of 
the  Holy  Scripture  to  educe  therefrom  precepts  of  a  casuist 
morality  in  favor  of  worldly  passions  and  interests. 

(What  say  you,  Messieurs  de  Loyola?  This  lesson  comes 
from  afar.) 

"  And  when  the  hour  of  death  shall  sound  for  him,  let  hini 
request  to  be  extended  on  a  mat  and  covered  with  ashes,  and 
let  his  last  word  be  a  prayer  for  entire  humanity  that  must 
continue  to  sufifer  when  he  is  himself  re-united  to  the  Father  of 
all  things." 

Such  were  the  priests  of  Brahma  of  other  times ;  their  life's 
occupation  :  first,  prayer  and  instruction ;  secondly,  meditation 
on  eternal  truths,  the  Holy  Scriptiu-e  and  the  grandeur  of  the 
Supreme  Being. 

Priests  at  first,  afterwards  recluses,  this  world  was  for  them 
but  a  place  of  exile  and  of  expiation  which  should  conduct 
then\  to  eternal  bliss  in  another  life. 


t62  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

A  man  who  passed  thirty  years  of  his  life  in  India,  and  who 
assuredly  will  not  be  taxed  with  partiality  in  such  matters,  could 
not  refrain  thanks  to  a  profound  spirit  of  justice,  from  pronounc 
ing  the  same  judgment  as  ourselves  upon  the  ancient  Brahmins. 

Here  is  what  the  missionary  Dubois  says  of  them  in  the  sec- 
ond volume  of  his  work  entitled  Moeurs  des  Indes  : 

"Justice,  humanity,  good  faith,  compassion,  disinterestedness, 
all  the  virtues  in  fact  were  familiar  to  theiji,  ana  taught  to  others 
both  by  precept  and  example.  Hence  it  comes  that  the  Hin- 
doos profess,  at  least  speculatively,  nearly  the  same  moral  prin- 
ciples as  ourselves ;  and  if  they  do  not  practice  all  the  reciprocal 
duties  of  men  towards  each  other  in  a  civilized  society,  it  is  not 
t«cause  they  do  not  know  them." 

This  is  what  a  priest  of  Christ  did  not  fear  to  say  of  the 
priests  of  Christna.  Yet  he  was  not  acquainted  with  the  nu- 
merous works  on  theology,  philosophy  and  morals,  which  earlj 
ages  have  bequeathed  us,  and  which  the  study  of  Sanscrit  ii 
now  enabling  us  to  explore. 

His  principles,  his  religious  faith,  would  doubtless  have  pre- 
^tsnted  his  going  further  in  his  appreciation ;  but  what  would 
he  have  said  if  it  had  been  permitted  him  to  find  all  his  beliefs, 
all  the  ceremonies  of  his  own  worship  in  the  primitive  Brahmin- 
ical  Church? 

After  many  ages  of  simplicity,  abnegation  and  faith,  the  germs 
of  domination  began  to  ferment  in  the  bosom  of  Brahminism. 
Their  ascendant  once  secured  over  the  people,  priests  perceived 
the  possibility  of  acquiring  complete  dominion,  both  civil  and 
religious,  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual,  and  they  set  about  the 
work  of  bending  political  power  to  paramount  religious  author- 
ity. 

In  the  first  part  of  this  work  we  have  seen  how  they  suc- 
ceeded, by  caste-divisions  and  by  gradually  allowing  the  people 
to  sink  into  brutish  abasement  and  the  most  shameless  demo* 
alization. 

We  have  equally  seen  how,  after  ages  of  unresisted  domina- 
tion, they  were  powerless  to  resist  the  invading  conquerors  ol 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  26$ 

their  country,  powerless  to  re-animate  against  the  stranger  a 
people  whom  they  had  long  deprived  of  all  initiative^  all  liberty^ 
and  consequently  of  all  courage. 

Sad  example  of  the  lot  that  attends  peoples  who  identify  the 
religious  idea  with  the  priest,  submitting  to  his  domination  to 
the  extent  of  having  neither  freedom  of  judgment,  freedom  of 
conscience,  nor  self-respect. 

In  all  religion  that  resists  tolerance  and  freedom  of  judgment, 
the  priest  is  but  an  industrious  combattant  against  progress  and 
liberty. 

The  Hindoos  were  demoralized  by  the  priests,  but  the  moral 
degradation  extended  even  to  them,  and  the  arms  they  em- 
j^loyed  were  turned  against  themselves. 

The  Brahmin  priests  of  the  present  day  are  but  the  shadow 
of  themselves,  crushed,  in  their  poverty,  their  weakness,  their 
vices,  and  their  actual  decrepitude  under  memories  of  the  past, 
with  some  very  rare  exceptions  they  but  divide  amongst  them 
aa  inheritance  of  immense  pride,  which  harmonizes  but  sadly 
^ith  their  degradation  and  their  inutility. 

These  people  have  no  longer  either  dignity  or  self-respect, 
and  long  ago  would  this  Brahmin  caste  have  disappeared  under 
pubHc  contempt,  had  not  India  been  India,  that  is,  the  country, 
^r  excellence^  of  immobility. 

If  their  power  over  the  masses  is  still  great,  intelligent  people 
of  the  higher  castes,  without  avowing  it,  however,  consider 
them  no  longer  in  any  other  light  than  as  vagabonds,  whom 
they  are  obliged  by  prejudice  to  protect  and  support. 

Ramble  of  an  evening  through  towns  and  country,  approach 
wherever  you  hear  the  sound  of  trumpet  and  tom-tom,  it  is  a 
birth,  a  marriage,  or  the  puberty  of  a  young  giil  that  is  being 
celebrated.  Look  under  the  veranda  and  on  the  stairs  of  the 
house,  those  ragged  beggars  who  squall  and  distort  themselves, 
diose  are  Brahmins  who  come  to  eat  the  rice  that  has  been  pre- 
pared in  honor  of  the  ceremony. 

This  tribute  is  their  due,  and  they  levy  it  upon  all  classes  of 
lociety,  not  a  family  festival,  nor  public  f^te  can  take  plaoo 


264  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

without  it,  and  it  is  customary  for  them  to  oarry  oft  the  lishd 
in  which  they  have  been  served. 

Generally  these  dishes  are  of  vulgar  metal,  iron  or  brass,  it 
tiome times,  however,  happens  that  a  Rajah,  impelled  by  pride 
and  ostentation  has  the  Brahmins  served  en  dishes  of  silver,  or 
of  gold,  and  expends  a  million  for  that  purpose,  the  Brahmins 
are  then  satisfied  and  exhaust  all  Oriental  hyperbole  in  the 
praises  they  address  to  the  liberal  prince ;  but  it  is  rare  that 
they  are  not  obliged  afterwards  to  separate  them,  the  division 
of  their  riches  requiring  some  interchange  of  blows  from  the 
ratan. 

There  are,  however,  a  few  members  of  this  debased  caste 
who  have  rigidly  separated  themselves  from  it.  Some  have 
consoled  themselves  for  the  loss  of  power  by  plenary  return  to 
the  primitive  faith,  and  it  is  not  rare  to  find  in  southern  India, 
Brahmin  priests  living  midst  study  and  prayer,  and  presenting 
to  the  people,  who  reverence  them  as  saints,  the  most  perfect 
example  of  all  virtues.  Others,  taking  a  more  forward  stride, 
renouncing  parents,  friends,  and  rebelling  against  present  mis- 
eries, have  devoted  themselves  to  preaching  the  equality  of  all 
men,  and  the  regeneration  of  their  country  by  opposition  to 
the  stranger. 

From  contact  with  Europeans  they  have  discovered  that 
their  weakness  and  inferiority  resulted  wholly  from  their  stag  - 
nant  inertia  and  their  divisions  of  caste ;  and,  anxious  to  shake 
off  the  yoke,  they  endeavor  to  revivify  the  enervated  blood 
that  flows  in  the  veins  of  their  compatriots,  and  to  unite  them 
against  the  common  enemy. 

Impotent  efi"orts  ;  —  which  may  perhaps  bear  fruit  in  the  fu- 
ture ;  for  the  present  they  have  but  resulted  in  placing  their  au- 
thors under  the  national  index,  expelled  from  the  bosom  of 
their  families  and  repudiated  even  by  their  own  childrer . 

Side  by  the  side  with  the  Brahmin  is  gradually  arising  an- 
other caste  which  already  covers  a  portion  of  southern  India, 
with  perceptible,  although  carefully  disguised  pretensions,  some 
4Uiy  to  supersede  them  in  their  popular  domination :  they  are 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  «^4 

Ihe  Commouty  caste,  composed  of  a  multitude  of  fanatics  whcr 
dream  of  the  reconstruction  of  Brahminism  in  their  country,  for 
their  own  profit ;  they  begin  to  exercise  a  real  influence. 

Living  only  upon  rice  and  vegetables,  and  imposing  upom 
the  people  by  the  austerity  of  their  manners,  the  members  of 
tljis  caste  will  soon  command  a  force  of  immense  weight  in  all 
countries — that  of  wealth. 

The  entire  commerce  is  in  their  hands ;  they  support  each 
other  by  vast  associations,  accumulate  capital,  centralize  traf- 
fic, and  very  certainly  would  become  a  formidable  power,  but 
for  the  English  who  fleece  them  under  pretext  of  imposts ;  for 
their  object  is  the  complete  restoration  of  that  past  theocracy 
so  dear  to  India. 

Such  is  the  semi-brutified  condition  into  which  priests  have 
plunged  this  unhappy  country,  that  the  entire  population 
would,  if  left  to  itself,  contribute  its  whole  force  to  any  move- 
ment that  would  replace  it  under  Brahminical  authority  —  but 
for  that,  it  must  not  be  ruled  by  England's  iron  hand,  nor  fa- 
tally destined  in  the  future  to  be  governed  by  Russia,  which  for 
more  than  a  century  has  cast  envious  glances  over  the  Hima- 
layas, on  the  rich  plains  of  Hindostan — waiting  the  hour  to 
seize  them. 

I  will  dwell  no  more  in  this  chapter  on  the  Siate  of  profound 
demoralization  into  which  the  sacerdotal  castes,  abusing  the 
religious  idea,  have  involved  India ;  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
fathom  this  subject  more  deeply  in  treating  of  the  feasts  and 
ceremonies  which  have  supplanted  those  of  the  ancient  wor- 
■hip. 


2 66  THK   BIBLE  IN  INDIA 


CHAPTER  XX. 

GBREMONIES     AND      SACRAMENTS    OF     ANCIENT    BRAHMINICA& 
WORSHIP. 

In  ancient,  as  in  modem  religions,  worship  assumed  two 
forms: 

By  the  first,  under  the  name  of  ceremonies  and  sacrifices, 
it  addressed  to  the  Divinity  the  prayers  and  vows  of  mortals. 

By  the  second,  under  the  name  of  sacraments,  it  imposes 
upon  the  faithful  certain  acts,  certain  expiations  or  purifica- 
tions ;  it  regulates,  in  a  word,  their  spiritual  life,  their  relations 
with  God. 

We  are  about  to  see  what  are  the  sacrifices  and  the  sacra- 
ments instituted  by  the  successors  of  Christna  in  the  primitive 
Brahminical  Church. 

In  the  first  part  of  this  work  we  have  thus  written  : 

Sacrifice  of  Sarvameda. 

Brahma  is  considered  by  the  Vedas  as  having  sacrificed  him. 
sell  tor  creation.  Not  only  did  God  incarnate  Himself  and  suf 
fer,  to  regenerate  and  lead  us  back  to  our  divine  source,  but 
He  even  immolated  Himself  to  give  us  existence.  **  Sublime 
idea,  which  we  find  expressed,"  says  M.  de  Humboldt,  "in  all 
the  sacred  books  of  antiquity." 

Hence,  say  the  holy  books : 

*^  Brahma  is  at  once  sacrificer  and  victim,  so  that  the  priesi 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  267 

who  officiates  every  morning  at  the  ceremonies  of  Sar\'ameda 
(universal  sacrifice,  symbolic  of  creation),  in  presenting  his  of- 
fering to  God,  identifies  himself  with  the  divine  sacrificer,  who 
is  Brahma ;  or  rather  it  is  Brahma,  victim  in  his  son  Christna, 
come  to  die  upon  earth  for  our  salvation,  who  himself  accom- 
plishes the  solemn  sacrifice." 

Thus  the  priest  at  the  altar,  in  this  sacrifice  of  Sarvamcda, 
presents  his  offerings  and  his  prayers  to  God  in  honor  of  crea- 
tion and  of  the  incarnation  of  Christna. 

We  shall  presently  find  the  Catholic  idea  applying  the  same 
symbolic  meaning  to  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass. 

This  ceremony  is  the  most  important  of  all  in  Brahminical 
religion ;  the  priest  cannot  proceed  each  morning  until  after 
full  examination  of  his  faults,  and  purification  after  the  pre- 
icribed  manner. 

The  others  are  but  secondary  sacrifices,  sometimes  in  honor 
of  holy  personages  who  have  attained  the  abodes  of  the  blessed  , 
sometimes  to  call  down  God's  blessing  upon  harvests  and 
fruits. 

The  materials  of  sacrifice  are  :  consecrated  oil,  purified 
water,  incense,  and  a  certain  number  of  other  perfumes,  which 
are  burnt  at  the  altar  on  a  tripod  of  gold.  Tlie  offering  consists 
of  a  cake  of  rice  moistened  with  clarified  butter,  which  the 
Brahmin  (priest)  should  eat  after  having  offered  it  to  God  and 
sanctified  it  by  his  prayers. 

Later,  when  Brahminism  reserved  its  pure  doctrines  and  sun 
pie  ceremonies  for  the  initiated  and  adepts,  and  after  the  divi- 
sion of  the  people  into  castes,  vulgar  worship  adopted  the  sac- 
rifice of  animals,  which,  after  consecration,  were  divided  amongst 
the  assistants,  who  by  this  food  were  purified  of  light  and  in- 
voluntar}'  faults. 

It  is  this  second  epoch  that  inspired  Egypt  and  the  worsiiip 
of  Moses. 

We  have  dwelt  sufficiently  on  all  these  things,  and  shall  noi 
recur  to  them. 

Sacraments,     Purification  of  the  newly-born  by  Water, 


«68  THE   BIELE   IN   INDIA- 

Within  three  days  after  birth  the  child  should  be  sprinkle^ 
that  is,  purifieii  by  the  sacred  water  of  the  Ganges,  or,  if  t09 
distant,  by  the  water  of  purification  which  has  been  consecrated 
by  Brahmins  in  the  pagoda. 

This  religious  custom  is  very  ancient  in  India ;  it  dates  frona 
the  Vedic  epoch,  and  Christna  himself  consecrated  it  by  going 
before  his  death  to  plunge  into  the  waters  of  the  Ganges ;  it  is 
still  in  honor  amongst  Hindoos,  who  fail  not  to  observe  it  with 
all  ceremonies  of  the  ancient  rite. 

The  sacred  books  of  India  loudly  assert  that  the  object  in 
sprinkling  of  the  infant,  is  to  wash  away  the  stain  of  original 
transgression. 

However  it  be,  and  if  we  consider  this  as  a  simple  ablution 
—  the  form  is  imposed  by  religion,  and  is  accomplished  by  a 
Brahmin,  which  suffices  to  place  it  amongst  the  sacraments. 

Moreover,  this  religious  custom  is  not  isolated,  the  water  of 
purification,  which  has  purified  the  infant,  continues  to  purify 
him  whenever  used  during  the  course  of  his  existence  ;  hence, 
doubtless,  the  system  of  ablutions  adopted  by  all  Oriental  re- 
ligions. 

Of  Confirmation. 

Let  us,  without  comment,  confine  ourselves  on  tnis  subject 
to  citation  of  two  texts:  one  from  the  Vedas  and  the  other 
from  Manou. 

Atharva  Veda  (Book  of  Precepts)  : 

"  Whoever  shall  not,  before  the  age  of  sixteen,  have  had  his 
purification  confirmed  in  the  temple  by  unction  of  holy  oil,  by 
consecrated  investiture,  and  the  prayer  of  the  Savitri,  should  be 
expelled  from  the  midst  of  the  people  as  a  despiser  of  the  di- 
vine word." 

Notwithstanding  division  of  the  people  into  castes,  and  per- 
version of  ancient  doctrines,  the  Brahmins  preserved  this  sacra- 
ment, and  extended  it  to  all  classes,  except  the  Soudras,  or 
prol^taires,  slaves,  and  parias. 

Manou,  abridged  and  modified  to  suit  their  interest,  speakt 
thus  (Book  ii.  sloca  38  &  39) : 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  96f 

"  Until  the  sixteenth  year  for  a  Brahmin,  until  the  twent}'- 
Becond  for  a  Tchatrias,  until  the  twenty-fourth  for  a  Vaisya,  the 
time  for  receiving  intestiture  sanctified  by  the  Savitri,  is  not  yet 
passed. 

"  But  beyond  these  terms,  the  young  men  of  these  three 
classes,  who  have  not  duly  received  this  sacrament,  shall  be  de- 
clared unworthy  of  initiation,  excommunicated  (Vratyas)  and 
delivered  over  to  the  contempt  of  honest  men." 

In  collating  these  two  texts  we  perceive  that  this  sacrament 
of  confinnation  was  a  continuation  of  the  first  ceremony  per- 
formed at  the  infant's  cradle,  that  is,  a  confirmation  of  the  pu- 
rification by  water  within  three  days  after  birth. 

Purification  and  Absolution.     Confession. 

According  to  Biahminism,  man  is  subject  on  earth  to  differ 
ent  taints — some  of  the  soul,  others  of  the  body. 

Contaminations  of  the  body  are  effaced  sometimes  by  simple 
water,  at  others  by  the  water  of  purification,  according  to  their 
gravity,  sometimes  by  abstinence  and  mortification. 

And  on  this  subject  we  may  say  that  it  is  difficult  to  form  an 
idea  of  the  tortures  and  flagellations  which  hermits  imposed, 
and  which  the  Fakirs,  their  successors  still  impose  upon  them- 
selves in  India. 

Impurities  of  the  soul  are  effaced  by  prayer,  by  penances,  and 
pilgrimages  to  the  Ganges,  as  well  as  to  different  places  sancti- 
fied by  the  life  and  the  death  of  Christna. 

As  may  be  easily  conceived,  under  the  empire  of  this  absorb- 
ing religion  which  at  last  so  governed  both  soul  and  body  of  its 
adepts  as  to  regulate  the  most  insignificant  usages  of  daily  life, 
man  was  no  more  allowed  to  judge  his  own  faults,  than  he  was 
permitted  to  question  Holy  Scripture. 

For,  as  says  Manou,  book  first : 

"  The  birth  of  the  priest  is  the  eternal  incarnation  of  justice  ; 
the  pnest  is  born  to  administer  justice,  for  in  his  judgments  he 
identifies  himself  with  God." 

"  The  priest,  in  coming  into  the  world,  is  placed  in  the  high- 
est rank  of  earth  ;  sovereign  lord  of  all  beings,  it  is  for  him  t« 
ft 


2  JO  THE    BIBLE    IN   INDIA. 

watch  over  conservation  of  the  treasures  cf  civil  and  rellgiom 
laws." 

As  religious  judge  the  priest  knew  all  sir/s,  and  all  transgres- 
sions, and  indicated  the  expiations  to  be  performed  by  the 
guilty —  in  this  manner : 

Each  morning,  after  sacrifice,  those  who  felt  themselves  rep- 
rehensible, assembled  in  the  court  of  the  pagoda  near  the  sa- 
cred tank,  and  there,  at  a  table  presided  over  by  the  oldest 
of  the  priests,  they  confessed  their  faults,  and  received  the  sen- 
tence imposed  upon  them. 

The  formula  of  confession  was  as  follows : 

"  Holy  Brahmins,  guardians  of  the  Divine  Srouti  (revelations), 
)ou  who  know  the  expiating  sanscaras  (sacraments),  what  ought 
1  to  do  ?  "     Stating  faults. 

And  the  senior  Brahmin  would  answer  : 

"  Enlightened  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  we  have  decided,  and  this 
is  what  you  ought  to  do " 

And  then,  according  to  the  gravity  of  the  offence,  the  religious 
tribunal  imposed  either  ablutions,  mortifications,  and  abstinence, 
fines  or  offerings  to  God,  prayers  or  pilgrimages. 

The  offences  which  no  purification  could  atone  (see  the  enu- 
meration, chap.  v.  of  Part  First)  were  punished  by  partial  oi 
complete  privation  of  caste.  The  excommunicated  (Vratyas) 
alone  fell  to  the  rank  of  parias. 

To  explain  the  expression  "  sanscaras  "  of  the  formula  a'oove 
cited,  and  which  we  have  translated  sacrament,  we  cannot  do 
better  than  quote  the  following  annotations  of  the  OrientaUst 
Loiseleur  Deslonchamps,  the  translator  of  Manou  : 

"  The  sacraments  (sanscaras)  are  purificatory  ceremonies  pe- 
culiar to  the  three  first  classes.  Brahmins,  tchatrias,  andvaisyab* 
Marriage  is  the  last  sacrament." 

We  were  therefore  justified  in  calling  the  absolution  of  the 
Hindoo,  by  the  Brahmin  priest,  a  sacrament,  following  public 
confession. 

We  shall  presently  find  early  Christians  adopting  this  custon^ 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  2ft 

thanks,  no  doubt,  to  the  many  traditions  of  India  studied  by 
their  first  instructors  in  Egypt  and  the  East. 

Marriage  was  also  held  a  sacrament  by  the  Brahminical 
religion  ;  it  is  so  established  by  the  following  text  of  the  Vedas : 

"Bialima  created  marriage  in  creating  the  man  and  the 
woman  for  reproduction  of  the  human  species ;  also,  in  memory 
of  the  divine  work,  the  union  of  the  sexes,  to  be  valid,  should 
be  corsecrated  by  prayers  of  the  priest." 

According  to  the  note  of  Loiseleur  Deslonchamps,  above 
cited,  and  which  we  recognize  as  correct,  marriage  is  the  last 
of  the  sacraments,  for  it  is  remarkable  that  the  Hindoo  priest 
did  not  directly  intervene  at  the  pillow  of  the  dying.  The 
VJrahminical  religion  in  such  circumstances  conferred  the  right 
to  officiate  on  the  eldest  son  or  nearest  relation  of  the  sick,  who 
was  charged  to  accomplish  the  funeral  ceremonies  in  fulfilment 
of  this  text  of  scripture. 

"  At  the  hour  of  death  it  is  the  prayer  of  the  son  that  opens 
to  the  father  the  abode  of  the  blessed." 

Briefly,  the  Brahminical  sacraments  are  five  in  number  : 

I  St.  The  anointing  of  the  priest,  consecrated  servant  amongst 
all  the  servants  of  God.  We  have  seen,  in  studying  the  educa- 
tion required  of  Brahmins  in  the  primitive  church,  how  this 
sacrament  was  attained. 

2d.  Ablution  or  baptism  of  the  newly-born  in  the  waters  of 
the  Ganges,  or  in  the  waters  of  purification. 

3d.  Confirmation,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  for  Brahmins,  twenty- 
two  for  tchatrias,  and  twenty-four  for  vaisyas,  of  the  purification 
at  the  cradle  of  the  newly-born. 

4th.  Absolution  of  faults,  by  public  confession. 

5th.  Marriage. 

We  have  said  little  about  this  last  sacrament,  and  the  reason 
is  plain. 

There  can  be  no  discussion  on  this  point,  for  it  is  a  vulgar 
tnith  needing  no  demonstration,  that  ancient  societies  have  all 
considered  marriage  as  a  religious  tie. 


■^f  rax  BIBLE  Ilf   INDIA 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

BRAHMINICAL     FEASTS     AND     CEREMONIES     OF     THE     PRESENt 

TIME. 

The  mass  of  Hindoos  of  the  pre:ient  day  have  but  a  feeble 
impression  of  their  ancient  worship,  and  the  Brahmins,  after 
having  despotically  perverted  the  loftiest  and  purest  principles, 
have  in  their  turn  sunk  into  the  moral  degradation  which  they 
fostered  for  the  maintenance  of  their  own  authority.  When 
invasions  had  ruined  their  political  power,  they  took  refuge  in 
their  temples,  multiplied  feasts  and  ceremonies,  and  emulated 
each  other  in  pomp  and  splendor  to  preserve  their  religioui 
prestige. 

It  may  not  be  without  interest  to  see,  from  description  of  a 
Hindoo  fete,  to  what  degree  of  hebetude  the  priests  had  reduced 
the  people,  after  having  proscribed  during  their  domination,  all 
civil  and  religious  liberties  ;  and  that,  too,  in  the  name  of  God, 
who  has  always  been  in  Europe,  as  in  Asia,  the  grand  pretence 
of  all  sacerdotal  castes. 

Let  those  same  liberties  be  proscribed  amongst  ourr elves, 
and  if  we  do  not  quite  sink  to  Oriental  degradation,  we  shall, 
without  doubt,  retrograde  to  the  subjection  of  the  middle  ages, 
to  the  religious  thraldom  of  kings  and  people,  to  Torquemada, 
the  grand  inquisitor  and  his  executioners,  inflicting  torture  with 
crucifix  in  hand. 


HINDOO  GENESIS^  ^73 

It  would  be  quite  impossible  for  me  to  give  even  the  simplest 
aorainal  list  of  the  fetes  of  Hindoo  worship,  which,  however, 
are  all  alike,  with  more  or  less  pomp  and  solemnity,  according 
to  the  richness  of  the  temple  where  they  are  celebrated,  and 
the  amount  of  offerings  of  the  faithful. 

Saints  and  heroes  have  been  so  multiplied,  that  the  three 
thundred  and  sixty-five  days  of  the  year  are  insufficient  to  hono* 
them  all,  even  if  passed  in  batches,  as  many  as  possible  each 
day. 

Brahminism  has  almost  completely  lost  the  idea  of  God,  and 
has  replaced  his  worship  by  that  of  Devas  or  angels,  and  Richis 
or  saints ;  and  such  infallibly  must  be  the  end  of  all  religion 
that  refuses  to  submit  itself  to  the  light  of  reason. 

We  will  take  as  example  one  of  the  feasts,  that  of  Chelam- 
brum  of  southern  India,  which,  in  the  midst  of  existing  super- 
stitions, has  still  preserved  an  appearance  of  grandeur. 

This  feast  commences  five  days  before  the  new  moon  of  May, 
and  ends  five  days  after,  without  a  minute's  intermission,  with- 
out affording  a  moment's  repose  to  the  immense  crowd  of  pil- 
grims and  devotees  assembled  to  assist  from  all  parts  of  India. 

The  first  eight  days  are  passed  in  the  interior  of  the  temple, 
Hindoos  of  high  caste  being  alone  admitted,  the  common  people 
remain  in  the  courts,  content  from  far  to  hear  the  music  and 
the  sacred  chants. 

The  first  day  is  consecrated  to  Siva,  and  solely  employed  to 
celebrate  his  beneficent  action  on  nature  ;  it  is  by  him  that  from 
decomposition  springs  the  germ  that  produces  the  rice,  so  use- 
ful to  man,  the  perfumed  flowers,  and  the  lofty  trees  that  adorn 
the  earth  with  their  foliage. 

During  night  they  chant  the  mysterious  union  of  God  with 
Nature,  and  salute  the  rising  sun  by  a  hymn  to  the  holy  per- 
sonage Cartignay,  whose  prayers  relieved  the  earth  from  the 
demon  Kayamongasaura,  who  had  come  to  torment  humanity, 
under  the  form  of  a  monster  ^vith  the  head  of  an  elephant. 

The  second  day  is  devoted  to  prayer  for  the  souls  of  ancestors. 
At  nigbt  they  are  offered  (consecrated)  boiled  rice,  honey, 


2f4  TOT  BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

clarifisd  butter,  and  fruits.  Once  devoted  to  the  /nanes,  these 
aliments  have  the  property  of  effacing  all  imi)urities. 

They  are  distributed  to  the  assistants,  who,  having  eaten 
them,  should  immediately  go  and  plunge  into  the  sacred  tank, 
which  is  found  on  one  side  of  the  temple. 

The  third  day  passes  in  supplications  to  the  Poul6ars,  pro- 
tecting divinities  of  villages  and  farms,  a  sort  of  penates ;  at 
night  are  blessed  the  images  of  these  gods,  brought  by  the  faith- 
ful, who  afterwards  place  them  in  their  houses,  or  on  the  bor- 
ders of  their  fields  to  protect  their  limits. 

The  fourth  day  and  following  night  are  assigned  to  celebra- 
tion of  the  river  Tircangy,  whose  waters  have  the  same  purify- 
mg  properties  as  those  of  the  Ganges,  for  those  who,  from 
poverty,  or  infirmity,  are  unable,  at  least  once  in  their  lives,  to 
make  the  pilgrimage  to  the  great  river. 

The  fifth  is  the  day  of  offerings  —  the  fervent  press  in  crowds 
under  the  portals  bringing  rice,  oil,  and  the  sandal-wood,  of 
which  is  made  the  odorous  powder  that  burns  in  tripods  of  gold 
and  vases  of  price. 

Brahmins  excel  in  the  art  of  exciting  the  emulation  of  rich 
Hindoos  to  rivalry  in  the  magnificence  of  theii  presents. 

On  the  sixth  day  they  pray  that  the  enterprises  of  those  who 
have  especially  distinguished  themselves  by  their  gifts,  may  not 
be  obstructed  by  any  evil  genius — and  the  day  following,  at  the 
first  hour  of  the  day,  a  Brahmin  announces  what  days  of  the 
year  will  be  lucky  and  unlucky. 

The  seventh  day,  especially  devoted  to  women  who  have  not 
yet  conceived,  is  employed  in  supplications  to  Siva  to  accord 
them  a  happy  fecundity  ;  such  as  more  especially  desire  an  end 
to  their  sterility,  should  pass  the  night  in  the  pagoda,  under  the 
protection  of  God/ 

The  Brahmins  avail  themselves  of  the  obscurity,  and  of  the 
agitation  excited  in  them  by  the  place,  to  prostitute  them 
amongst  themselves,  and  give  themselves  up  to  a  night  of  orgie 
and  debauch.     They  then  persuade  these  poor  creatures,  timid 


HINDOO  GENSSlfS.  tj% 

and  credulous  to  excess,  that  they  have  bcfm  visited  by  supe- 
rior spirits  sent  to  them  by  Siva  himself. 

Nor  is  it  rare  for  women  of  the  highest  caste,  and  of  exquis- 
ite beauty,  to  be  thus  deUvered  to  strangers,  who  pay  very  large 
sums  to  the  priests  to  be  secretly  introduced  into  the  pagoda 
during  this  night. 

The  ^2^th  day  is  wholly  occupied  in  dressing  the  monstrous 
car,  which  the  next  day  is  to  make  the  tour  of  the  pagoda,  bear- 
ing the  colossal  statue  of  the  god  Siva,  drawn  by  his  worship- 
pers. 

The  ninth  day,  at  eleven  of  the  morning,  to  the  sound  of 
guns,  fireworks,  and  chants  of  music,  two  thousand  Hindoos 
hurst  through  the  crowd  to  attach  themselves  to  the  car  of  the 
god,  high  as  a  monument  and  covered  with  allegoric  sculptures. 

All  at  once  an  immense  acclamation  bursts  upon  the  air,  the 
bayaderes  keep  time  as  they  force  back  the  crowds,  the  priests 
intone  the  sacred  hymn,  thousands  of  censers  fill  the  air  with 
the  smoke  of  their  incense.  It  is  the  car  that  begins  its  trium- 
phal march,  one,  two,  three  acclamations  are  heard,  the  crowd 
applauding  shouts :  —  It  is  at  some  fakirs  who  come  to  throw 
themselves  to  be  crushed  under  the  car  of  the  god.  The  blood 
gushes  under  the  wheels,  and,  at  the  risk  of  the  same  fate,  dev- 
otees rush  to  dip  in  the  human  liquor  a  piece  of  cloth  which 
they  will  preserve  as  a  precious  relic. 

"VVTien  the  sacred  car  has  made  its  course  round  the  temple, 
the  ceremony  is  over  for  that  day,  and  some  repose  is  necessary 
to  prepare  for  the  grand  fete  of  the  night  of  the  following  day. 

This  is  the  moment  for  the  stranger  to  enter  the  courts  and 
dependences  of  the  temple  to  visit  the  fakirs  and  sunnyasis. 

The  sunnyasis  are  mendicant  pilgrims,  who  have  accom- 
plished  the  pilgrimage  to  the  Ganges,  in  fulfilment  of  vows, 
each  more  extraordinary  than  the  other. 

Some  have  gone  to  the  banks  of  the  sacred  river  in  measup 
mg  the  distance  with  their  bodies. 

Others  have  made  the  same  march  on  their  hands  and  kncca 

Others,  again,  in  tying  their  feet  together  and  jumping  th« 


SjS  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

\shole  distance,  or  in  restricting  themselves  to  eating  and  sleep- 
ing only  every  three  days  during  the  journey. 

It  is  well  to  know  that  it  is  nearly  six  hundred  leagues  from 
Chelambrum  to  the  nearest  branch  of  the  Ganges. 

But  this  is  nothing,  and  the  folly  of  all  these  people  is  greatly 
surpassed  by  the  fanaticism  of  fakirs,  who  sit  impassible  and 
smiling  in  the  midst  of  suffering  the  most  hideous,  of  tortures 
the  most  frightful. 

Look  at  that  wheel  which  turns  with  such  rapidity,  carrying 
with  it  five  or  six  human  figures  who  redden  the  earth  with  their 
blood ;  these  are  fakirs  who  have  suspended  themselves  with 
iron  hooks  passed  through  their  thighs,  their  loins,  or  their 
shoulders. 

Near  them  we  remark  another  seated  on  a  plank  studded 
with  long  points  of  iron  which  deeply  penetrate  his  flesh. 

See  that  man  who,  with  the  aid  of  a  tube,  sucks  in  a  little 
broth  from  a  plate,  —  he  has  condemned  himself  to  silence, 
and  to  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  break  his  vow,  he  has 
burnt  his  lips  with  a  red  hot-iron  and  stitched  them  together  to 
become  united,  leaving  in  the  middle  a  small  hole  that  can  only 
admit  fluid  aliment. 

His  neighbor  is  obliged  to  eat  like  an  animal,  out  of  a  dish, 
unable  for  many  years  past  to  make  use  of  his  hands,  having 
so  bound  them  together  with  cocoa-cords  that  the  points  of  the 
right  hand  nails  press  on  the  pahn  of  the  left,  and  vice-versa. 
The  nails  have  grown  and  united  the  two  hands  to  each  other, 
penetrating  the  flesh  and  muscles  through  and  thrfugh. 

What  horrible  mutilations !  a  few  steps  and  we  are  sickened 
at  the  sight.  But  let  us  on,  tliere  is  still  more  frightful  infliction, 
and  not  a  complaint,  not  a  cry ;  one  would  say  that  these  men 
have  conquered  pain. 

What  is  that  inert  mass  stretched  upon  the  earth  which  we 
Should  suppose  inanimate,  did  it  net  appear  occasionally  to 
breathe  ?  Its  arms,  its  legs  are  twisted  and  ankylosed,  it  has 
neither  nose  nor  ears,  its  lips  excised  to  tlie  very  edge  of  the 
jums,  lay  bare  the  opening  teeth.  —  horror !     Thi*  carca*  has 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  '  J77 

no  longer  a  tongue,  it  looks  like  a  death's-head.     Is  h  f  CiUy  a 
man? 

Near  is  a  woman  who  has  no  longer  the  indications  of  sex, 
she  has  bmut  or  cut  them  away.  Her  body  is  but  one  vast 
ulcer  —  half  rotten — the  worms  feed  upon  it 

Another  is  stretched  upon  a  bed  of  burning  charcoal,  he  will 
extinguish  it  with  his  flesh  and  his  blood. 

Near  the  tank  which  serves  to  wash  the  statues  of  gods  and 
saints,  and  for  hoiy  ablutions,  a  fakir  groans  under  a  pile  of 
wood  that  weighs  at  least  two  or  three  hundred  kilogrammes, 
while  another  buried  in  earth  to  the  very  neck  receives  the  sun's 
rays  in  all  their  scorching  heat  upon  his  skull,  shaven  to  the 
very  skin. 

Let  us  stop ;  the  sight  becomes  wearied,  as  the  pen  refuses 
longer  to  describe  such  scenes. 

Who,  then,  can  urge  men  to  impose  such  tortures  upon  them- 
selves ?  What  fanatic  and  senseless  faith  if  they  really  think 
thus  to  make  themselves  agreeable  to  God!  What  courage 
and  what  stoicism  if  it  is  but  jugglery ! 

It  is  said  that  the  Brahmins,  whose  purpose  they  serve  in 
astonishing  and  stupifying  the  crowd,  bring  them  up  for  their 
role  from  the  tenderest  age,  and  that  they  bestialize  the  body 
and  fanaticise  the  spirit  of  these  unfortunates  by  seclusion,  and 
the  promise  of  immortal  recompense. 

During  the  night  of  the  tenth  day,  which  is  the  last  of  the  fete, 
the  statue  of  Siva  is  promenaded  on  the  tank  of  the  pagoda,  ot 
which  it  should  make  the  tour  seven  times. 

I  could  not  describe  in  all  its  details  the  bizarre  and  gratp- 
diose  eccentricity  of  this  scene,  which  suddenly  bursts  forth  as 
by  enchantment,  in  the  midst  of  Bengal  fireworks  of  all  colors, 
launched  from  a  hundred  thousand  hands. 

The  atmosphere  is  obscured  by  smoke  from  golden  tripods^ 
where  constantly  bum  perfumed  balls  that  rum  upon  them- 
selves, tracing  in  the  night  a  circle  of  fire ;  the  dazzled  crowds 
become  frantic  on  the  steps  —  stamp  —  shout  in  honor  of  the 
jod     At  moments  the  Bengal  fire  ceasing,  the  obscurity  fof 


278  THE    BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

some  seconds  is  almost  complete,  the  enormous  status  of  the 
idol  alone.^  sphmdidly  illuminated,  glides  silently  over  the 
waters  -  -al  it«  feet  recline  the  bayaderes  in  the  most  enchant 
ing  attitudes  ,  then  blaze  forth  most  gorgeous  fires,  with  accom 
panying  frantic  hurrahs. 

The  seventh  tour  is  nearly  completed,  the  chants  become 
shrieks,  the  delirium  reaches  its  climax;  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren plunge  into  the  tank  to  purify  themselves  in  the  water  that 
Siva  has  just  traversed. 

Woe  to  the  paria  who  had  dared  to  enter  the  gates  of  the 
temple  :  if  recognized  at  such  a  moment,  he  would  be  infallibly 
torn  in  pieces. 

Such  is  the  exaltation  that  even  if  it  pleased  the  officiating 
Bralimin,  in  the  name  of  God,  to  denounce  the  Europeans  who 
assist  at  the  ceremony,  to  the  anger  of  the  crowd,  not  one  of 
them  would  escape  alive  from  the  enclosure. 

About  four  in  the  morning  Siva  is  reconducted  with  great 
pomp  into  the  mysterious  interior  of  the  pagoda,  not  to  be 
again  exhibited  until  the  next  year ;  the  fires  slowly  die  out,  the 
crowd  gradually  disperses  to  the  sound  of  sacred  trumps  and 
tum-tums,  the  stranger  retires,  unable  at  first  to  account  to  him- 
self for  the  difierent  emotions  that  have  assailed  him. 

The  most  magnificent  fetes  of  the  North  of  India  —  that  is, 
of  Bengal — are  miserable  compared  with  those  of  the  South- 
In  the  south,  where  Mahomedan  invasion  was  less  firmly 
established,  where  the  sectarian  intolerance  of  Omar  and  of 
Hyder  Ali  has  not  razed  temples  and  bent  consciences  to  the 
law  of  the  sword  auvl  the  crescent,  it  would  appear  that  Brah- 
minical  domination  b  ^  -=  preserved  something  of  its  ancient  pres- 
tige. 

There  have  religious  traditions  found  refiige  In  the  hearts  of 
some  few  learned  Brahmins,  who  preserve  the  precious  deposit 
in  the  hope  of  an  approaching  regeneration. 

There  are  the  grand  monuments,  the  gigantic  ruins,  the  ma- 
Jefctic  God,  sculptured  in  granite  of  fifty  feet  high,  there  in  fact 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  37f 

are  tne  icmains  of  that  old  Brahminical  civilization  that  inspired 
the  entire  of  Asia,  Greece,  Egypt,  Judea,  and  Rome. 

It  is  there,  we  cannot  repeat  it  too  often,  there  is  our  field 
of  study  and  of  research. 

The  few  savans  who  have  visited  India  have  invariably 
thrown  themselves  upon  Calcutta  and  Bengal,  where  the  Hin- 
doo, from  European  contact,  has  opened  shops,  and  become  a 
dealer  in  rice  and  indigo. 

They  have  not  perceived  that  the  North  of  India  has  lost  its 
Hindoo  stamp,  that  Mahomedan  temples  have  replaced  pago- 
das, and  English  cottages  the  palaces  of  Rajahs,  and  that  they 
were  but  visiting  the  field  of  battle  of  all  the  invasions  that  have 
decimated  India,  to  which  have  succeeded  the  European 
agiotage. 

The  festvials  of  Bengal  do  not  assemble  those  imposing 
masses  that  are  seen  on  the  Eastern  point  of  Hindostan,  the 
Camatic  or  the  Malayala,  for  instance. 

Each  family  has  its  own  fete  and  after  its  own  manner,  and 
vanity  has  much  to  do  with  this  separation. 

The  high  castes  will  have  no  contact  with  the  inferior  castes, 
nor  the  rich  with  the  poor.  It  is  necessary  that  people  should 
say,  while  gazing  at  the  procession  of  a  statue  ornamented  wdth 
gold  and  jewels,  and  followed  by  people  in  silks  and  cashmeres, 
"That  is  the  Poojah  of  Baboo  such  a  one."  If  we  make  a 
display,  the  world  must  be  informed  who  pays  for  it. 

It  is  in  some  degree  European  pride  grafted  upon  that  of  the 
Hindoo.  Many  members  of  the  high  castes  even  disdain  to 
show  themselves  in  pubhc  processions,  and  pay  substitutes  to 
follow  the  idol  in  their  name. 

The  only  festival  of  Bengal,  which  has  some  splendor  and  a 
certain  affluence  of  devotees,  is  the  Poojah  of  September,  fes- 
tival of  Brahma  and  of  Nature,  tut  it  is  distinguished  by  nothing 
truly  original ;  it  is  but  a  tissue  of  gross  and  often  disgusting 
buffoonery. 

It  m  ist  be  confessed  that  the  Bengalees  have  a  singular  way 
of  honoring  God ;  they  exhibit  for  the  occasion,  without  respect 


tSo  THE   BIBLE  IN  INTIA. 

for  women  or  children,  images  the  most  obscene  and  disguating 
and  on  their  stages  represent  scenes  of  indecency  that  pass  all 
bounds.  Thus  I  once  saw  this  f^te  celebrated  at  Hoogly,  a 
small  village  on  the  Ganges,  after  the  following  manner ;  a  man 
and  a  woman,  the  one  representing  Brahma,  the  other  Nature, 
on  a  public  scaffolding,  deliberately  consummate  the  act  ol 
generation,  as  I  was  assured,  in  honor  of  ths  germs  fecundated 
by  God  at  Creation. 

What  can  be  expected  from  a  people  sunk  into  such  social 
brutishness  ?  And  let  it  be  well  understood  that  it  has  been 
produced  by  abuse  o/fke  religious  idea  and  hy  priestly  domina- 
tion. 

Never  could  the  reign  of  reason  have  conduced  to  such 
orgies — to  such  an  oblivion  of  sane  doctrines  and  of  self-re- 
spect. 

And  let  us  not  feel  assured  that  our  enlightened  European 
civilizations  could  never  engender  similar  decrepitude.  Let 
the  same  causes  be  permitted  to  operate,  and  we  shall  see  the 
same  results. 

Let  us  not  forget  the  mysteries  performed  in  our  middle  ages 
by  the  brothers  of  the  Passion,  and  the  clercs  of  the  basoche  (a 
sort  of  ecclesiastical  court)  even  in  the  sanctuaries  of  the  tem- 
ples, and  which  were  at  last  proscribed  because  of  their  ob- 
scenities, and,  sad  to  say,  these  proscriptions  emanated  from 
royal  ordinances,  and  not  from  religious  censures. 

If  free  judgment  had  not  succeeded  in  establishing  itself;  if 
we  had  continued  to  torture  and  to  burn  for  a  bible-text ;  if 
kings,  as  in  India,  had  accepted  tutelage  without  murmur  and 
without  resistance,  —  where  should  we  have  been  ?  Answer, 
where  should  we  be  ? 

We  have  got  beyond  that  period,  it  will  be  said,  and  the 
people  who  have  conquered  civil  and  religious  liberty  will  nor 
retrograde ! 

Who  knows  ? 

Had  not  India  its  epoch  of  free  judgment,  free  discussion, 
and  of  liberty  ?    The  sacerdotal  class  strove  without  relaxation ; 


HINDOO   GENESIS.  28" 

patient,  it  pursued  its  work — ages  did  not  weary  it, —  and  it 
conquered. 

The  contest  threatens  again  to  relive  between  liberty  and 
religious  despotism — what  do  I  say  ?  It  is  already  everywhere 
engaged 

The  most  imposing  manifestation  of  the  age  is  to  be  made  in 
a  few  months  at  Rome  against  the  principles  of '89. 

Let  us  watch  —  and  prepare  our  defence. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

LASr  MANIFESTATION  OF  GOD  ON  EARTH,  ACCORDING  TO  HINTOO 
SACRED  BOOKS. 

According  to  Brahminical  beliefs,  the  Maha-pralaya,  the 
grand  dissolution,  that  is,  the  end  of  the  world,  will  be  signal- 
ized by  a  strange  event :  — 

Let  Ramatsariar,  the  religious  commentator  on  the  sacred 
Dooks,  speak :  — 

*'....  bome  tune  before  the  destruction  of  all  that  exists, 
the  struggle  between  evil  and  good  must  recommence  on  earth, 
and  the  evil  spirits  who,  at  their  first  creation,  rebelled  in 
heaven  against  the  authority  of  Brahma,  will  present  themselves 
for  a  final  struggle  to  dispossess  God  of  his  power  and  recover 
their  liberty. 


tSj  THB   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

Then  will  Christna  again  come  upon  earth,  to  overthrow  thi 
prince  of  the  Rakchasas,  who,  under  the  form  of  a  horse,  and 
aided  by  all  evil  spirits,  will  cover  the  globe  with  ruins  and  with 
carnage. 

This  belief  is  general  in  India,  there  is  not  a  Hindoo,  to 
whatever  caste  he  belongs,  not  a  Brahmin  that  does  not  con 
sider  it  as  an  article  of  faith.  The  priests  have  even  conse- 
crat(;d  a  sacrifice,  the  Aswameda,  that  is,  the  sacrifice  of  a 
horse,  to  the  future  victory  of  the  son  of  the  Virgin  Devanaguy, 

I  state  and  record  the  fact,  without  present  comment. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

A  text  of  the  Philosopher  Narada. 

"  Never  resort  to  the  argument :  *  I  do  not  know  this,— 
therefore  it  is  false.' 

"  We  must  study  to  know,  know  to  comprehend,  and  compre. 
hend  to  judge." 

Ir  closing  these  studies  on  the  religious  beliefs  and  sacred 
books  of  India,  I  say  the  same  to  all  contradiction. 

Before  judging  me,  study  the  old  civilizations  of  the  East,  and 
I  shrink  from  no  discussion,  fear  no  light. 


■ZNDOO  GENESIS.  tS^ 


EPILOGUE. 


DTUTILnT  AND   IMPOTENCE  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONARY  Di 

INDIA. 

If,  as  has  said  the  Rev.  Father  Dubois,  y«j//V^,  humaniiyy  good- 
faiih^  compassion^  disinterestedness,  in  fact,  all  the  virtues,  were 
familiar  to  the  Ancient  Brahmins  ; 

If  it  is  true,  to  maintain  equally  with  him,  that  the  Hindoos  pro 
fess  the  same  moral  principles  as  we  do,  we  have  the  key  to  our 
complete  missionary  failure  in  India — failure,  moreover,  avowed 
by  a  great  number  amongst  them  who  either  care  not  or  dare  not 
explain  the  reason. 

"Why  should  I  change  my  religion?"  demanded  a  Brahmin, 
with  whom  I  was  one  day  discussing  these  matters. 

"  Ours  is  as  good  as  yours,  if  not  better,  and  you  but  date  it  all 
since  eighteen  centuries,  while  our  belief  is  continuous  without 
interruption  from  the  creation  of  the  world. 

"God,  according  to  you,  and  you  thus  diminish  him,  required 
several  efforts  to  provide  you  with  a  religion — according  to  us, 
he  revealed  his  law  in  creating  us. 

"  Whenever  man  has  strayed.  He  has  manifested  HimseT,  to 
recall  him  to  the  primitive  faith. 

"  Lastly,  he  incarnated  himself  in  the  person  of  Christna,  who 
came,  not  to  instruct  humanity  in  new  laws,  but  to  efface  originaJ 
Bin  and  purify  morals. 


«84  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

"This  incarnation  you  have  adopted,  as  you  have  adopted  oifli 
tradition  of  the  creation  of  Adima  and  H6va. 

"We  still  expect  another,  before  the  end  of  tne  world,  that 
of  Christna  coming  to  encounter  the  Prince  of  the  Rackchasas, 
disguised  as  a  horse,  and  from  what  you  have  just  told  me  of 
your  Apocalypse,  you  have  also  borrowed  this  prophecy  from 
us. 

"Your  religion  is  but  an  infiltration,  a  souvenir  of  ours, 
wherefore  then  desire  me  to  adopt  it  ? 

"  If  you  would  succeed,  do  not  begin  by  teaching  me  princi- 
ples that  I  find  in  all  our  holy  books,  and  a  morale  which  we 
possess  in  India  from  long  before  Europe  had  opened  its  eyes 
to  the  light  of  civilization." 

All  this  was  but  the  exact  truth,  and  admitted  no  reply. 

What,  then,  would  you  offer  these  people  ?  a  form  of  wor- 
ship? external  ceremonies?  They  are  but  visible  manifesta- 
tions, and  not  the  base  of  a  religion,  and  what  is  to  be  done 
when  the  bases  are  the  same  ? 

No  doubt  the  Hindoos  have  forgotten  their  primitive  beliefs, 
and  the  purity  of  Christna' s  morale,  in  practice,  but  their  de- 
moralization is  not  the  result  of  ignorance ;  they  have  perfect 
knowledge  of  their  dogmas,  and  of  all  the  grand  principles  of 
conscience. 

Let  Europe  not  be  so  ready  to  cast  the  stone ;  — in  the  midst 
of  her  strifes  and  her  ambitions  of  all  kinds,  she  would  be  verjr 
ill-advised  to  give  herself  the  palm  of  morality.* 

Doubtless  the  Hindoos  of  to-day  have  substituted  the  most 
superstitious  practices  for  worship.  Wliat  else?  Thanks  to 
their  priests,  they  have  ended  by  deserting  God,  to  adore  the 
workers  of  miracles,  angels,  and  saints,  devas,  and  richis. 

And  then  ?     Have  we  not  also  our  miracles  of  Salette  and 


*  "It  would  not  be  difficult,"  says  Von  Schlegel,  "to  draw  from  an- 
tbentic  sources  a  sketch  of  Christian  nations,  that  would  by  no  means  accord 
with  our  views  of  the  great  moral  superiority  of  modem  timev" 


HINDOO  GENESIS.  285 

Other  places,  our  saints,  who  heal  the  lame,  the  deaf,  the  t  End 
— scrofula  and  chilblains  ?     .     .     . 

Why  should  not  the  Hindoos  have  theirs  ? 

I  happened  one  day  to  be  in  a  village  near  Trichinopoly,  a 
large  city  on  the  east  coast  of  India,  where  a  newly-arrived 
missionary  was  seeking  proselytes.  A  Brahmin  theologian  pre- 
sented himself,  as  is  the  practice  under  such  circumstances,  and 
proposed  to  him  a  public  discussion  on  such  religious  matters 
as  he  might  choose. 

The  priest,  who  perfectly  understood  the  Tamoul,  consented ; 
had  he  refused  he  would  have  sunk  in  public  opinion,  and  any 
Hindoo,  in  the  district  to  whom  he  might  wish  to  speak  of  reli- 
gion, would  infallibly  have  answered,  "Why  are  you  afraid  to 
measure  yourself  with  our  Brahmin  ?  " 

The  meeting  was  fixed  for  the  following  Sunday.  The  Hin» 
-loos  are  very  fond  of  these  encounters,  of  these  wordy  wars  ; 
k-nen,  women,  and  children  assemble,  listen  with  interest,  become 
excited  by  tlie  contest,  and  what  would  scarcely  be  believed,  pur- 
sue the  vanquished  with  pitiless  hootings,  and  with  the  most  per- 
fect impartiality,  be  it  the  Brahmin  or  the  missionary. 

We  shall  be  less  surprised  at  this  when  it  is  known  that  there 
is  not  a  Hindoo,  whatever  his  rank  or  caste,  who  does  not  know 
tlie  principles  of  the  Holy  Scripture,  that  is,  of  the  Vedas.  and 
\vho  does  not  perfectly  know  how  to  read  and  write. 

There  is  a  Hindoo  proverb  which  says  : — *  He  is  not  a  man 
who  does  not  know  how  to  fix  his  thought  upon  an  olle '  (a 
pahn  leaf,  prepared  for  writing). 

Sunaa)  eame,  the  whole  village  assembled  under  the  refresh- 
ing shade  of  a  vast  Banyan,  &c.,  &c 


PART    FOURTH. 


HINDOO   ORIGIN  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEA. 


IF  I  BELIEVED  IN  THE  CATHOLIC  RELIGION,  I  SHOULD  COM- 
MENCE BY  BECOMING  A  JEW,  AND  BEING  A  JEW,  I  SHOULD 
LOSE  NO  TIME  IN  ADOPTING  BRAHMINISM. 

TO  THE  READER. 

Religions  impose  their  dogmas,  bend  conscience  under  theii 
Ijcws,  deny  freedom  of  discussion  and  of  judgment  to  their 
clients,  and,  in  the  name  of  God,  proscribe  all  thought  which 
they  do  not  control,  all  liberty  except  the  liberty  to  bow  down 
and  to  believe. 

Equally,  in  the  name  of  God,  reason  propounds  other  prin- 
ciples :  liberty  of  the  individual  in  thought  and  act,  progress  of 
humanity  in  the  ways  of  the  just  and  the  good,  by  discussion 
and  examination  which  can  alone  relieve  the  future  from  the 
superstitions  and  the  obstructions  of  the  past 


HINDOO   ORIGIN   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   IDEA.  287 

Physical  sciences  erred  as  long  as  they  followed  in  the  wake 
of  an  axiom  imposed  by  the  religious  idea.  Moral  sciences 
will  have  no  better  destiny  until  they  disengage  themselves  from 
mystery  and  from  revelation. 

Let  us  spurn  mystery  and  revelation  as  unworthy  of  his  wis- 
dom, of  his  infinite  power,  and,  strong  in  the  immortal  truths 
which  he  has  implanted  in  us,  let  us  not  fear  to  engage  in  the 
struggle  that  must  lead  to  the  triumphant,  untrammelled  reign 
of  reason. 

We  shall  then  have  separated  the  Supreme  Being  and  his 
worship  from  all  the  weaknesses,  all  the  miseries  of  human  im- 
perfection with  which  man  has  been  pleased  to  identify  him  foi 
more  than  six  thousand  years. 

Such  should  be  the  aim  of  all  free  intelligence. 


CHAPTER  L 


SIliPLE   EXPLANATION. 


Having  exhibited  conspicuously  the  influence  of  ancient  In- 
dia, on  all  the  societies  of  antiquity,  proven  the  moral,  philoso- 
phic, historic  and  religious  traditions  of  Persia,  of  Egypt,  of 
Judea,  of  Greece,  and  of  Rome,  to  have  been  drawn  from  that 
great  primitive  fountain,  exposed  the  work  of  Moses  as  derived 
from  the  sacred  books  of  Egypt  and  of  the  extreme  East,  we 
shall  now  see  Christ  and  his  apostles  recover,  whether  from 


S88  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

Asia  or  from  Egypt,  the  primitive  traditions  of  the  Vedas,  the 
morale  and  teaching  of  Christna,  and,  with  the  aid  of  those  sub- 
lime and  pure  principles,  attempt  regeneration  of  the  ancient 
world  which  was  everywhere  crumbling  under  decrepitude  and 
corruption. 

We  have  recounted  simply,  faithfully,  the  Hindoo  Genesis, 
the  conception  of  the  Virgin,  the  life  and  death  of  the  redeemer 
Christna,  reserving,  as  far  as  possible,  all  reflection,  all  com- 
mentary, for  the  last  part  of  our  work,  in  which  we  shall  be 
obliged,  necessarily,  to  touch  once  more  upon  all  these  mat- 
ters. 

The  next  few  pages  are  suggested  by  the  impossibility  of  ele 
fating  fable  and  prodigy  to  the  level  of  historic  truths,  and  by 
the  desire  to  restore  the  true  figure  of  Christ,  by  disengaging  it 
from  the  accumulation  of  superstitions  and  wonders,  with  which 
it  pleased  the  middle  ages  to  surround  it. 

Far  from  me  the  vulgar  pleasure  of  sapping  the  authority  of 
Jesus  as  God ;  a  more  lofty  motive  inspires  and  directs  me ;  and 
I  respect  all  sincere  beliefs  which  my  reason  may,  nevertheless, 
refuse  to  adopt. 

And,  I  have  already  said  it,  I  will  not  and  I  cannot  accept 
other  guide  than  reason,  other  light  than  that  of  conscience. 

God  has  given  me  a  torch,  and  I  follow  it. 

The  past  is  but  ruin,  obscurity,  intolerance,  and  despotism. 
Let  us  change  our  route,  and  we  shall  see  what  the  fiituic  may 
become. 


HI2«>00  OXIGIN   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  IDEA.  sSo 


CHAPTER    II. 

IMPOSSIBILITY'  OF   THE  LIFE   OF    CHRIST,  AS   DESCRIBED   BY  THB 
EVANGELISTS. 

The  life  of  the  great  Christian  philosopher,  as  transmitted  to 
us  by  the  Evangelists,  his  Apostles,  is  but  a  tissue  of  apocry- 
phal inventions,  destined  to  strike  popular  imagination,  and 
solidly  to  establish  the  basis  of  their  new  religion. 

It  must  be  admitted,  iiowever,  that  the  field  was  wonderfully 
prepared,  and  that  these  men  had  little  difficulty  in  finding 
adepts  to  place  fortune  and  life  at  the  service  of  reform. 

Everywhere  Paganism  was  in  its  last  throes  :  Jupiter,  maugre 
his  altars,  had  no  longer  believers ;  Pythagoras,  Aristotle,  So- 
crates, and  Plato,  had  long  evicted  him  from  their  conscience. 
Cicero  wondered  that  two  priests  could  look  at  each  other  with- 
out laughing ;  for  two  ages  past,  Pyrrha,  Cimon,  Sextus,  Empir- 
icus,  Enesidemus,  no  longer  believed  in  anything :  Lucretius 
had  just  written  his  book  on  Nature,  and  all  the  great  spirits 
of  the  age  of  Augustus,  too  corrupt  to  return  to  simple  princi- 
ples and  primordial  lights,  but  staunch  to  reason,  had  reached 
the  most  perfect  scepticism,  — leading  a  life  of  pleasure  midst 
oblivion  of  God  and  of  the  future  destinies  of  Man. 

On  another  side,  those  old  and  decaying  theologies  had  left 
in  the  spirit  of  the  multitude  the  idea  of  a  Redeemer,  which 
ancient  India  had  bequeathed  to  all  the  nations :  and  the  wearied 
25 


9QO  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA- 

people  waited  for  something  new  to  replace  their  extinct  beliefs^ 
to  nourish  their  energy,  paralysed  by  doubt,  and  in  need  of 
hope. 

It  was  then  that  a  poor  Jew,  though  bom  in  the  lowest  class 
of  the  people,  did  not  fear,  after  devoting  fifteen  years  of  his 
life  to  study  and  meditation,  to  attempt  regeneration  of  this 
epoch  of  decrepitude  and  of  materialism. 

Every  one  knows  the  pure  and  simple  morale  which  he 
preached,  and  with  what  avidity  the  ancient  world  transformed 
itself  under  the  new  afflatus.  To  characterize  the  teaching  of 
Christ  is  not  our  object ;  our  business  is  simply  to  seek  its  origin, 
and  to  see  by  what  studies  the  reformer  had  been  able  to  reform 
himself 

From  the  moment  we  reject  the  incarnation,  to  see  in  him 
only  a  man,  whatever  his  grandeur  and  his  genius,  we  have  a 
right  to  find  for  him  precursors,  as  we  have  found  for  Boudha, 
for  Zoroaster,  for  the  Egyptian  Manes,  and  for  Moses. 

It  is  to  us  incontestable,  that  Jesus,  up  to  the  moment  of  his 
appearance  on  the  world's  scene,  that  is,  until  thirty  years  of 
age,  was  preparing  himself  by  study  for  his  self-destined  mis- 
sion. 

Why  delay  until  thirty  years  of  age  to  begin  his  work?  Why, 
if  he  was  God,  remain  inactive  during  the  twelve  or  fifteen  years 
of  his  life  of  youth  and  manhood?  Wherefore  not  preach  even 
from  infancy  ?  it  would  without  doubt  have  been  a  most  palpa- 
ble mode  of  proving  his  divinity. 

We  are,  it  is  true,  told  that  at  twelve  years  of  age  he  sus- 
tained a  thesis  in  the  temple  that  astonished  the  Jewish  doctors ; 
but  what  thesis  ?  and  why  did  not  the  Evangelists  think  proper 
to  inform  us  ?  Is  not  this  fact  more  likely  to  be,  with  a  crowd 
of  others,  the  product  of  their  imagination? 

Then,  lastly,  what  did  he  do  from  twelve  to  thirty  years  of 
age  ?  I  ask  a  question,  of  which  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  receive 
a  solution. 

In  the  silence  of  the  apologists  of  Jesus,  we  can  only  dis- 
cover an  intentional  oblivion;  for  it  would  have  been  necessary 


HIND  DO  ORIGIN  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   IDEA.  29! 

to  tell  the  truth,  and  to  disperse  the  mist  of  obscurity  in  whicli 
they  have  been  pleased  to  envelop  this  grand  figure.  And  the 
truth  is,  that  Christ,  during  this  space  of  time,  studied,  in  Egypt, 
perhaps  even  in  India,  the  sacred  books  reserved  from  long  ages 
for  the  initiated;  and  ^vith  him  the  most  intelligent  of  the  dis- 
ciples whoi-i  he  had  attachetl  to  himself  in  the  course  of  his  per- 
egrinations 

And  it  is  thus  that  Christ  knew  the  primitive  traditions,  and 
studied  the  ministry  and  quorate  of  Christna  which  inspired  his 
familiar  discourses  and  his  instruction. 

I  think  I  hear  cries  of  astonishment  and  surprise  even  in  the 
camp  of  free  thought. 

Let  us  then  reason  !  it  Is  to  you  rationalists,  and  to  you 
alone,  that  1  address  myself;  for  all  discussion  with  the  parti- 
sans of  faith  is  impossible  the  moment  we  cease  to  acknowledge 
the  same  premises. 

If  you  do  not  believe  in  the  divinity  of  Christ,  why  are  you 
surprised  that  I  should  seek  out  his  procursors  ?  Born  in  an 
unintelligent,  because  little  cultivated  class,  it  was  only  by  study 
that  he  could  have  so  raised  himself  above  his  ccmpatriots  as 
to  play  the  important  part,  of  which  we  know.  Yes,  Christ 
went  to  Egypt ;  yes,  Christ  studied  in  the  East,  with  his  disci- 
ples. Such  is  the  only  logical  explanation  of  the  moral  revolu- 
tion they  accomplished.  But  proofs  will  not  fail,  wait  for  theno^ 
before  pronouncing  judgment  on  this  opinion,  which  is  not 
with  me  a  simple  hypothesis,  but  even  historic  truth. 

Start  not  from  such  words;  I  say  historic  truth,  because 
if,  with  me,  you  reject  the  revealed,  the  marvellous,  and  the 
prodigious,  there  remain  only  natural  causes  to  study;  and 
if  in  our  previous  examinations  we  have  together  found  a 
more  ancient  doctrine,  identical  in  every  point  with  that  of 
Jesus  and  his  apostles,  have  we  not  a  right  to  conclude  that 
the  latter  drew  their  inspiration  from  these  same  primitive 
springs  ? 

Did  not  all  the  great  spirits  of  antiquity  seek  intellectual 
cultivation  in  Egypt  ?    Was  not  this  old  soil  the  resort  of  all 


tg2  THE  BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

the  thinkers,  all  the  philosophers,  all  the  historians  all  the  gi  am 
marians  of  that  epoch  ?  What,  then,  did  they  go  to  seek  ? 
What  could  that  immense  Alexandrian  Library  have  contained, 
the  destruction  of  which  is  not  Caesar's  smallest  title  to  the 
scorn  of  future  races  ? 

Why,  afterwards,  did  the  Neo-Platonicians  there  found  their 
celebrated  school,  if  the  ancient  traditions  of  this  country  did 
not,  like  a  brilliant  beacon,  attract  all  intelligences,  all  men  of 
thought  ? 

The  son  of  Mary  and  Joseph  followed  the  current ;  Egypt 
was  at  hand,  and  he  went  to  learn.  Perhaps  even,  as  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  may  he  have  been  conveyed  there  by  his 
f»arents  in  infancy,  as,  moreover,  reported  by  the  evangelists, 
and  did  not  return,  whatever  may  be  pretended,  until  he  had 
conceived  the  idea  of  coming  to  preach  his  doctrine  to  the 
Jews. 

Before  exposing  more  fully  our  theory  of  Jesus,  it  appears 
desirable,  as  briefly  as  possible,  to  examine  what  his  life  was 
according  to  the  Apostles. 

Mary,  still  a  virgin,  although  wife  of  Joseph,  conceived  by 
the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  third  person  of  the  Trinity, 
and  Jesus  was  born  on  the  25th  December,  of  the  year  4004 
of  the  world,  according  to  Biblical  chronology. 

The  birth,  foretold  by  the  prophets,  was  signalized  by  diffei 
ent  prodigies :  shepherds,  and  also  three  magi  from  the  East, 
guided  by  miraculous  inspiration,  came  to  Bethlehem,  to  wor- 
ship the  newly-born. 

Herod,  King  of  Jerusalem,  fearing  the  advent  of  the 
Messiah,  who,  according  to  certain  predictions,  should 
dethrone  him,  senf  and  slew,  in  Bethlehem  and  all  the  countries 
round  about,  all  the  children  of  two  years  and  under. 

Warned  by  an  angel,  Joseph  and  Mary  fled  into  Egypt 
to  save  the  child  from  massacre,  and  did  not  return  until  after 
the  death  of  Herod.  At  the  age  of  twelve  years,  Jesus  aston* 
ished  the  doctors  in  the  temple  by  the  wisdom  of  his  answers. 

At  thirty,  after  having  had  himself  baptised  in  tne  watcis  of 


HINDOO  ORIGIN  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEA.  '  a^$ 

Jordan,  by  John  the  Baptist,  he  commences  his  mission  and 
journeys  through  the  cities  of  Judea,  preaching  with  his  dis- 
ciples ;  during  the  three  years  of  his  peregrinations  a  multitude 
of  miracles  are  attributed  to  him. 

H*  changed  the  water  into  wine  at  the  marriage  of  Cana, 
resuscitated  Lazarus,  three  days  after  death ;  the  son  of  the 
widow  of  Naim,  healed  the  lame,  restored  sight  to  the  blind, 
hearing  to  the  deaf,  and  cast  out  devils  from  those  possessed. 

Accused  by  the  Pharisees  and  priests  of  the  Jews,  of  exciting 
the  people  to  make  himself  king,  he  was  arrested  and  handed 
over  to  Pontius  Pilate,  the  Roman  governor  of  Judea,  who 
sent  him  to  CaTphas,  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  who  had  him 
judged  and  condemned  to  death  by  the  Sanhedrim,  or  council 
of  ancients.  Attached  to  a  cross,  between  two  thieves,  he 
died,  pardoning  his  persecutors. 

Three  days  after  death,  he  rose  again,  as  he  had  promised 
his  disciples,  and,  forty  days  after  resurrection,  he  ascended 
into  heaven,  after  having  commanded  his  disciples  to  go  and 
instruct  all  peoples  in  the  new  faith. 

Such,  according  to  the  evangelists,  are  the  chief  events  in 
the  life  of  the  Christian  reformer. 

Common  sense  obliges  me  to  denounce  the  bad  faith  of  the 
dpostles  in  surrounding  Christ  with  an  escort  of  miracles  and 
wonders,  opposed  to  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  reason,  witli 
the  evident  object  of  captivating  thje  crowd  and  gaining  parti- 
sans. 

This  role  had  not  even  the  merit  of  novelty.  How  many 
others  had,  in  fact,  played  it  before  them,  and  with  equal 
success  ! 

What !  the  evangelists  are  then,  to  me,  only  impostors ! 

That  is  not  my  thought.  I  maintain  solely  that  these  men, 
no  doubt  with  a  laudable  object,  and  to  assure  the  success  of 
their  mission,  had  recourse,  like  all  their  predecessors,  to  pro- 
digies  and  apochryphal  miracles  to  attach  to  themselves  a  divine 
prestige,  and  that  they  made  a  God  of  the  gentle  and  sublime  vic- 
tim of  the  priests  of  IsraeL 


394  THE   BniE  IN  INDIA. 

Ah  !  were  the  fact  isolated  in  the  history  of  humanity  with 
out  believing,  on  bended  knees,  perhaps  we  might  hesitata 
about  contesting  and  denying. 

Let  us  inquire  of  the  past. 

It  is  ever  the  case,  that  in  reviewing  the  most  remote  epochs, 
we  find  in  all  theogonies  of  the  different  peoples  who  occupy 
the  globe  this  hope  of  the  advent  of  a  God  upon  earth,  hope 
which  sprung,  no  doubt,  from  the  aspirations  of  primitive  peo- 
ples, who  at  sight  of  their  own  imperfections  and  sufferings, 
would  naturally,  in  an  impulse  of  faith  and  love,  address  them- 
selves to  the  Supreme  Being,  creator  of  all  things.  The  primi- 
tive legend  of  Brahma  promising  a  redeemer  to  H6va,  was  but 
the  result  of  these  aspirations,  the  poetic  manifestation  of  this 
belief  in  the  possibility  of  the  divine  incarnation. 

The  results  of  this  general  belief  were  numerous.  Christns 
appears,  proclaims  himself  the  promised  redeemer,  the  offspring 
of  God,  and  the  entire  of  India  recognizes  and  worships  him  as 
such. 

Boudha  comes,  in  his  turn,  with  the  same  pretensions; 
driven  out  of  India  by  the  Brahmins,  he  goes  to  preach  his 
doctrine  in  Thibet,  in  Tartary,  in  China,  and  in  Japan,  and 
these  countries  deify  him,  receive  him  as  the  Messiah  expected 
for  ages. 

Later,  Zoroaster,  exciting  Persia  against  Brahminical  au- 
thority, presents  himself  as  a  messenger  of  the  Lord ;  and  gives 
to  the  people  his  works  or  books  of  the  law,  which  he  had 
written  under  the  dictation  of  God. 

Manes  in  Egypt,  Moses  in  Judea,  continue  the  tradition, 
calling  themselves  Divine  messengers  and  prophets,  ar.d  tV»« 
people  continue  to  kneel,  and  to  believe.     .     .     . 

Lastly,  Christ  appears,  his  life  is  short,  scarcely  had  he 
time  to  preach,  when  the  Jews  put  him  to  death;  but  his 
disciples  survive;  following  the  course  traced  out  by  pre- 
ceding mcamations,  they  restore  his  memory  by  miracle 
and  prodigy,  and  make  a  God  of  this  just  man,  who,  beyond 
doubt,  never  had  such  an  ambition  during  his  life.     But,  ai 


HINDOO   ORIGIN  OF  THE   CHRISItAN  IDEA.  295 

we  shall  see  presently,  they  were  not  clever,  and  in  too 
closely  copying  the  Hindoo  incarnation,  they  pen^iit  us  to 
discover  the  source  of  their  inspiration,  and  it  is  from  them- 
selves that  will  come  the  most  conclusive  proofs  of  their 
preceding  studies  in  Egypt  and  in  the  East. 

Will  it  be  said,  that  if  the  apostles  had  created  their  own 
god,  they  would  not  have  died  for  their  convictions  ? 

In  religion,  as  in  politics,  this  argument  is  valueless ;  noth- 
ing  is  so  easy  as  to  make  a  martyr  of  a  sectary.  Persecution 
always  results  in  placing  error  on  the  same  footing  as  truth, 
and  of  enlisting  for  it  ardent  defenders. 

You  do  not,  I  fancy,  believe  that  Christna  was  a  God  ?  that 
Boudha,  too,  was  descended  from  Vischnou  ?  that  Zoroaster 
was  sent  by  Ormuzd  ?  Explain  to  me,  then,  how  the  partisans 
of  these  men  could  have  died  in  defence  of  their  faith,  extin- 
guished the  burning  piles  of  the  East  with  their  blood,  and 
wearied  their  persecutors  ? 

Tell  me  the  secret  of  all  the  victims  to  all  religious  intoler- 
ances, the  secrets  of  all  devotions  to  the  cause  of  evil,  as 
numerous  as  to  the  cause  of  good. 

Tell  me  how  it  could  be  that  the  first  and  few  faithful 
adherents  of  Mahomet  fell  at  Mecca  to  defend  a  prophet, 
who,  in  the  meantime,  had  coweringly  fled  before  popular 
fury? 

Still  nearer  ourselves,  do  you  see  that  energetic  figure  of 
John  Huss,  the  Catholic  priest,  burnt  by  Catholicism,  for 
refusing  to  retract  his  pretended  errors  ? 

WTiy  did  he  not  save  himself,  when  he  could  iiave  done  so 
by  a  word  ? 

And  the  Jews  of  the  middle  ages  dying  for  the  law  of 
Moses,  which  the  sa77ie  Catholicism  recognizes,  even  while 
proscribing  it.  And  the  Vaudois,  the  Camisards,  and  the 
Protestants  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  the  sinister  hecatombs 
of  the  inquisition ! 

Prepare  me  a  list  of  the  martyrs  to  an  idea,  while  others  had 


29^  THE   BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

on  the  eve  died  for  a  contrary  idea,  and  tell  me  if  we  do  nol 

die  with  as  much  courage  for  error  as  for  truth. 

Be  assured  the  chiefs  of  a  revolution  never  hesitate  to  die 
for  it,  to  defy  death  in  the  face  of  the  crowd  whose  opinion 
they  have  conquered,  and  the  Apostles  were  chiefs  of  a 
revolution. 

Even  had  they  desired  it,  it  was  impossible  for  them  to 
escape  the  cross,  the  arena,  or  the  pile,  impossible  to  say  to  all 
the  Christians  who  saw  them  die  :  "  we  have  deceived  you,  and 
we  are  the  first  to  retract  our  beliefs." 

Moreover,  in  sacrificing  life  to  their  cause,  had  they  not 
a  motive,  which  should  satisfy  their  self  devotion  ?  they  suffered 
for  the  morale  which  they  came  to  found ;  they  died  for  the 
regeneration  of  humanity,  and  in  that  were  they  believers,  but 
only  in  that. 

Since  we  confi-ont  tortures  and  the  pile  for  all  ideas, 
since  all  beliefs,  all  religions  have  had  their  martyrs,  have 
I  not  a  right  to  maintain  that  the  deaths  of  the  Apostles, 
victims  of  their  religious  emprise,  prove  nothing  for  the  divinity 
of  Jesus  ? 

That  divinity  was  necessary  to  their  work;  the  entire 
past  was  before  them  to  show  there  could  be  no  success 
without  it,  that  the  people  could  not  be  seduced  without 
parade  and  miracle.  After  the  death  of  Christ,  did  they 
not  attribute  to  themselves  the  power  to  work  miracles? 
Who  do  we  expect  to  believe  that  Peter  continued  to 
resuscitate  the  dead,  to  heal  the  crippled,  and  to  cast  out 
devils  ? 

One  example,  from  many:  "Simon,  the  magician,  who 
himself  performed  prodigies,  having  had  himself  baptised 
by  the  deacon  Philip,  besought  Peter  to  bestow  upon  him 
also  the  power  of  working  miracles;  having,  for  that,  been 
cursed  by  the  chief  of  the  Apostles,  he  separated  himself 
from  the  communion  of  the  faithful,  and  commenced 
preaching  on  his  own  account,  calling  himself,  also,  the  sod 
of  God. 


HINDOO   ORIGIN  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  IDXA.  297 

"  Having  challenged  St.  Peter  in  presence  of  the  Emperor 
Nero,  thanks  to  his  magic  power,  he  raised  himself  to  a 
great  height  in  the  air,  in  the  presence  of  a  great  crowd  of 
people. 

"  But  Saint  Peter  having  addressed  a  prayer  to  God,  Simon 
the  magician  fell  in  the  middle  of  the  public  square  and  broke 
his  legs." 

Are  such  absurdities  worth  discussing  ?  and  will  any  man 
of  common  sense  dare  to  profess  belief  in  such  ridiculous 
fables  ? 

Whence  this  magic  power  of  Simon's?  From  the  devil, 
we  shall  be  told. 

Poor  devil !  what  a  pitiable  figure  they  make  of  you ;  for 
ages  you  dare  to  risk  yourself  on  earth,  to  install  yourself  in 
the  bodies  of  men,  to  work  miracles,  to  strive  with  God  .  .  . 
then,  all  of  a  sudden,  you  shamelessly  fly  before  the  institu- 
tion of  the  police  and  the  gendarmerie  .  .  .  and  you  are 
to-day  nothing  more  than  a  figure  of  rhetoric  for  the  use  of 
M.  Veuillot  and  Archbishop  Dupanloup.  [Lord  Shaftesbury 
and  Mr.  Spurgeon.] 

There  are  still  some  miracle-workers,  some  sorcerers  here 
and  there,  but  they  no  more  venture  on  great  works;  the 
sixth  chamber  knows  two  well  how  to  exorcise  them. 

Let  us  leave  all  these  miracles  and  sorcerers  which  can 
only  flourish  in  obscure  opochs  of  humanity,  when  people, 
subjugated  or  enervated  by  despotism,  seek  directors  else- 
where than  in  their  conscience  and  in  the  immortal  light 
which  God  himself  has  deposited  with  us.  Civilization,  the 
progress  of  liberty,  make  short  work  of  all  those  things 
which  cannot  support  the  light  of  day,  of  examination  and  of 
discussion. 

We  are  about  to  see  how  the  Apostles  of  Jesus,  rejecting 
Judaism  and  inspired  by  primitive  sacred  traditions  of  the 
J.ast,  impressed  upon  their  new  Church  the  simple  and  pure 
stamp  of  antique  Hindoo  society — the  socJal  system  of 
Christna. 


»9S  '    THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

All  antiquity  had  drunk  from  the  great  fountain  of  despotic 
sacerdotal  Brahminism — ignoring  lofty  Vedism,  from  which 
it  but  borrowed  some  grand  traditions. 

The  Apostles,  on  the  contrary,  and  it  is  in  my  eyes  their 
greatest  merit,  had  the  wisdom  to  revert  to  Christna  and 
the  Vedas;  and  if  they  had  not  the  courage  to  reject  the 
marvellous,  because  the  world  was  not  yet  prepared  by  liberty 
of  thought  for  complete  regeneration,  they  entitle  themselves 
to  our  pardon,  by  the  daring  with  which,  careless  of  life  and 
fortune,  they  boldly  preached  those  pure  and  sublime  doc- 
trines which  they  recovered  from  the  sacred  books  of  other 
times. 

Sucli  is  the  truth  of  these  men,  whose  intrepidity  and 
devotion  we  cannot  too  much  admire,  always  regretting 
that  they  did  not  dare  to  trample  under  foot  the  vain  supersti- 
tions of  their  predecessors. 

This  is  the  channel  to  be  explored.  Perhaps  I  may  not 
make  my  conclusions  as  clear  as  they  appear  to  me.  Let 
odiers  continue  the  work.  Make  Sanscrit  a  classic  language, 
establish  a  superior  school  in  India,  send  chosen  men  who 
may  reveal  to  the  world  the  thousands  of  manuscripts  this 
ancient  country  has  bequeathed  us,  and  we  shall  see  if  the 
future  does  not  confirm  my  conclusions. 

Let  us  repeat  it  even  to  satiety — if  those  whom  we  call 
the  ancients  were  progenitors  of  modem  nations — so  wai 
ancient  India  the  initiatrix  of  all  the  civilizations  of  anti- 
quity. 


HINDOO   ORIGIN  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   IDEA.  20i| 


CHAPTER  HI. 

DEVANAGUY  AND   MARY — CHRISTNA  AND  CHRIST. 

The  Hindoo  Redeemer,  son  of  Devanaguy,  is  named  Chrisfc- 
na !  —  and  later,  his  disciples  decreed  him  the  title  of  Jezeus ! 

The  son  of  Mary,  the  Christian  Redeemer,  is  named  Jesus, 
or  rather  Jeosuah  —  and  later,  his  disciples  gave  him  the  title  of 
Christ 

The  two  mothers  of  the  Redeemers  conceive  by  divine  inter- 
vention, and  remain  virgins,  maugre  their  maternity.  To  which 
assign  priority  ?  To  which  the  reproach  of  imitation  ?  To  ask 
the  question,  is  to  answer  it. 

Devanaguy  and  Christna  precede  Mary  and  Christ  by  at  least 
three  thousand  years ;  the  antique  civilization  of  India  resulted 
from  this  incarnation :  all  sacred  books,  all  works  of  philosophy, 
morale,  history  and  poetry,  have  made  it  a  point  of  honor  to 
rest  upon  it.  To  suppress  Christna,  would  be  to  suppress  an- 
cient India. 

Mary  and  Christ  have  but  reached  us  through  the  legendary 
reports  of  the  Evangelists ;  and,  although  the  facts  associated 
with  the  Christian  incarnation  were  of  a  nature  to  excite  to  the 
highest  degree  the  interest  and  curiosity  of  the  age  in  which 
they  might  occur,  although  this  epoch  is  comparatively  near  oui 
own,  history  and  tradition  are  alike  wholly  silent  about  them ; 
nothing,  absolutely  nothing,  announces  them  to  us.     Neither 


500  THE  BIBLE  119   INDIA. 

Suetonius,  nor  Tacitus,  nor  any  of  the  Latin  cir  Greek  histori. 
ans  of  the  times,  allude  to  the  extraordinary  adventures  attribu^ 
ted  to  Jesus ;  and  yet  it  must  be  confessed  that  there  was  there 
matter  strongly  to  tempt  the  pen  of  these  writers. 

How  explain  this  unanimous  silence  ? 

It  is,  as  we  have  said,  that  all  these  adventures  are  apocry- 
phal ;  it  is  that  Jesus  passed  almost  isolated  through  the  world 
which  paid  him  little  attention ;  and  that  it  was  only  later  his 
disciples  made  of  him  a  legendary  hero,  by  appropriating  some 
Hebrew  prophecies  inspired  by  the  East,  and  borrowing  from 
Christna  his  morale,  and  some  of  the  less  supernatural  and  more 
probable  particularities  of  his  life. 

The  tradition  of  the  Virgin-Mother,  brought  from  India,  is 
common  to  the  whole  East — in  Birmah,  China,  and  Japan  —  the 
Apostles  have  but  recovered  and  applied  it  to  their  doctrine. 

One  fact  has  always  astonished  me.  Through  all  the  sacred 
books  of  primitive  times  of  Egypt  and  the  East,  the  old  tradi 
tion  of  the  Messiah  had  passed  into  the  Hebrew  law.  How  is 
it,  then,  if  the  most  important  facts  and  miracles  of  Jesus'  life 
are  not  the  result  of  posterior  invention,  that  the  Jews  refused 
to  recognize  this  Redeemer  whom  they  expected  so  impatient- 
ly —  and  whom,  even  to-day,  they  still  expect  ? 

They  were  blinded  by  the  Devil,  some  will  say.  Enough  of 
this  old  argument,  designed  to  cloak  weak  pretensions  ;  and,  if 
possible,  let  us  reason,  if  only  for  a  moment. 

Can  it  be  seriously  thought  that  the  Jews  would  not  have 
hailed  Jesus,  if  he  had  really  performed  before  them  all  the 
miracles  assigned  him  by  the  Evangelists  ? 

I  am  persuaded,  for  my  part,  that  such  prodigies  would  have 
found  few  unbelievers,  and  that  Jesus  would  not  have  died  on 
the  Cross  like  a  vulgar  demagogue  seeking  to  excite  the  people 
against  the  established  authorities  —  for  such  do  the  x)riests  of 
Israel  consider  him. 

We  are  no  longer  of  that  epoch  when  the  marvellous  seemed 
an  order  of  nature,  and  an  uncomprehending  multitude  bent 
the  submissive  knee.     Well,  let  a  man  appear  am  uig  us,  who 


HINDOO  ORIGIN  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  IDEA.  30I 

during  three  years  of  his  life  shall  accumulate  miracle  upon 
miracle,  change  water  into  wine,  feed  ten,  fifteen,  twenty  thoi-« 
sand  persons  with  five  fishes  and  two  or  three  loaves,  resuscitate 
the  dead,  restore  hearing  to  the  deaf,  sight  to  the  blind,  &c.,  <S:c. 
and  see  if  priests  and  Pharisees  will  have  power  to  condemn 
him  as  infamous. 

But  for  tliat  the  dead  must  be  really  dead,  it  must  be  no  hin- 
drance if  he  smell  a  little  unpleasantly,  like  Lazarus ;  the  water 
changed  into  wine  must  be  really  water  ;  the  blind  and  the  deaf, 
not  complaisantly  so  ;  that  in  fact  there  be  nothing  reconcileable 
with  physical  or  natural  science. 

If  the  Jews  did  not  recognize  Jesus,  it  was  that  the  sublime 
preacher  was  no  doubt  content  to  proclaim  his  morale,  and  give 
it  the  support  of  his  jDure  example,  which  would  be  a  reproach 
midst  general  corruption,  and  excite  against  him  all  those  who 
Uved  and  ruled  by  that  corruption. 

Warned  by  his  death,  his  apostles  changed  their  tactics. 
Comprehending  the  influence  of  the  supernatural  on  the  multi- 
tude, they  re-originated  the  incarnation  of  Christnay  and,  thanks 
to  it,  were  able  to  continue  the  work  to  which  their  master  had 
succumbed. 

Hence  the  conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  the  divinity 
of  Christ. 

I  infer  nothing  from  these  names  of  Jesus,  or  Jeo«iuah,  and 
of  Jezeus,  borne  alike  by  the  Hindoo  and  the  ChrigHan  Re- 
deemers. 

As  we  have  seen,  all  these  names  of  Jesus,  Jeosuah,  Josiaa, 
Josu6,  and  J^ovah  derive  from  the  two  Sanscrit  words  Zeus  and 
Jezeus,  which  signif-',  one,  the  Supreme  Being,  and  the  other, 
the  Divine  Essence.  These  names,  moreover,  were  common 
not  only  amongst  the  Jews,  but  throughout  the  East. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  same  \vith  the  names  Christna  and 
Christ,  where  we  find  manifest  in'itation,  the  Apostles  borrowing 
from  the  Hindoos.  The  son  of  Mary  at  his  birth  received  only 
the  name  of  Jesus,  and  not  until  after  his  death  was  hr  called 
Christ  by  believers. 
96 


303  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

This  word  is  not  Hebrew.  Whence  comes  it,  then,  if  tht 
Apostles  did  not  appropriate  the  name  of  the  son  of  Devanagny  ? 

In  Sanscrit,  Kristna,  or  rather  Christna,  signifies  messenger  of 
God,  promised  of  God,  sacred. 

We  write  Christna,  rather  than  Kristna,  because  the  aspirate 
Kh  of  tlie  Sanscrit  is  philologically  better  rendered  by  our  Ch, 
which  is  also  an  aspirate,  than  by  our  simple  K.  In  it,  therefore, 
we  are  guided  by  a  grammatical  rule,  and  not  by  the  wish  to 
produce  a  resemblance. 

But  if  this  Sanscrit  epithet  of  Christna  applies  perfectly  to 
the  Hindoo,  it  will  not  equally  apply  to  the  Christian  incarna- 
tion, unless  we  admit  the  name  to  have  been  copied  with  the 
morale  and  ministry. 

Will  it  be  said  that  the  name  comes  from  the  Greek  Christos  ? 
Besides  that  most  Greek  words  are  pure  Sanscrit,  which  explains 
the  resemblance,  wherefore  this  choice  of  a  Greek  sur-nom  for 
Jesus  who,  a  Jew  by  birth,  passed  his  militant  life  and  died 
midst  his  compatriots  ?  The  only  logical  conclusion  is,  that  this 
name  of  Christ  was  a  part  of  the  complete  system  adopted  by 
the  Apostles — to  construct  a  new  society  on  the  model  of  prim- 
itive Brahminical  religion. 


HINDOO  ORIGIN  OF  THE   CHIUSTIAN  II>SA«  JOJ 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MASSACRE  OF  THE   INNOCENTS,   IN  INDIA  AND   IN  JUDEA. 

Kansa,  tyrant  of  Madura,  to  make  sure  of  Christna,  by  whom 
he  feared  to  be  dethroned,  commanded  the  massacre  of  all  the 
male  children  bom  on  the  same  night  as  the  divine  child. 

Herod,  King  of  Judea — from  the  same  motive,  has  all  the 
Jiildren  of  two  years  old  and  under  put  to  death  in  Bethlehem 
and  the  country  round  about. 

All  the  records  of  India,  scientific,  historic,  or  religious,  the 
Pauranas,  the  Shastras,  the  Maha-Bharat,  the  Bagaveda-Gita, 
the  Bagaveda-Shastra,  tftstify  the  authenticity  of  this  fact ; 
whereas  the  version,  equally  attributed  to  Herod,  has  been 
handed  to  us  only  by  the  Apostles ;  that  is,  by  those  who  had 
an  interest  in  reviving  it. 

Cotemporary  history  has  nowhere  recorded  this  audacious 
crime,  which  all  men  of  sense  must  pronounce  materially  im- 
possible at  the  epoch  of  its  professed  perpetration.  Never 
would  Herod  have  dared  to  take  upon  himself  the  odium  and 
the  responsibility  of  such  a  sacrifice. 

Who  was  this  king  ?  Having  taken  part  with  Cassius  and 
Antony,  the  latter  had  him  named  Tetrarch  of  Judea,  by  the 
Roman  Senate.  Of  a  supple  spirit,  altogether  modem,  he  knew 
when  to  change  his  colors,  and  Augustus  continued  to  him  his 
throne.     But  he  was,  in  fact>  but  a  simple  Roman  Governor, 


304  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

and  the  gospel  itself  does  not  consider  him  otherwise  in  the  fol. 

lowing  passage : 

"  At  that  time  canie  an  edict  from  Cesar- Augustus  for  the 
numbering  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  empire.  This  first  cen- 
sus was  made  by  Cyrinus,  Governor  of  Syria,  and  all  went  to 
be  inscribed,  each  in  his  own  village.  Joseph  went  up  to  Naza- 
reth, which  is  in  Gahlee,  and  came  into  the  City  of  David, 
called  Bethlehem,  because  he  was  of  that  tribe,  to  be  inscribed, 
with  Mary,  his  wife,  who  was  with  child " 

How  admit  that  Herod,  an  Imperial  Governor,  under  the 
Pro-consul  Cyrinus,  could  possibly  have  committed  an  act  of 
cruelty  so  stupid  and  so  useless  ? 

What !  in  the  Augustan  age,  that  epoch  of  intelligence  and 
enlightenment,  a  fool,  for  it  is  impossible  to  call  him  anything 
else,  dares  to  massacre  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands  of  chil- 
dren,* all  the  children  of  two  years  old  and  under ^  says  the  gos- 
pel !  and  not  a  father  goes  to  throw  himself  at  the  feet  of  Cy- 
nnus,  or  of  the  emperor,  to  demand  justice,  not  an  intelligent 
or  angry  voice  raised  to  protest  and  to  denounce  in  the  name 
of  humanity  !  Those  mothers  did  not  then  weep  at  the  spill- 
ing of  their  purest  blood  ? 

Rectitude  and  affection  were  then  everywhere  dormant  at 
this  moment  ? 

Tacitus,  who  has  stamped  for  ever  the  crimes  of  despots  with 
the  brand  of  reprobation,  did  not  then  think  such  infamies 
worthy  of  his  condemnation  ? 

Nothing — always  a  complicity  of  silence.     .     .     . 

Apostles  of  Jesus,  you  have  counted  too  much  upon  human 
credulity,  trusted  too  much  that  the  future  might  not  unveil 
your  manoeuvres  and  your  fabricated  recitals  ;  —  the  sanctity 
of  your  object  made  you  too  oblivious  of  means,  and  you  have 
taken  the  good  faith  of  peoples  by  surprise  in  re-producing  the 
febles  of  another  age,  which  you  believed  buried  for  ever. 

Will  it  be  objected  that  Josephus  speaks  of  this  massacre  of 

*  14,000^  according  to  some  authorities  I 


HINDOO   ORIGIN  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEA.  30< 

the  innocents  ?  The  argument  is  worth  nothing  ;  apart  from 
this  writer's  well-rnerited  reputation  for  bad  faith,  he  affirms 
nothing,  and  does  but  repeat,  sixty  years  after  date,  a  fact,  oi 
rather  an  error,  already  accredited  by  the  Apostles. 

There  is  one  insuperable  truth,  that  it  is  impossible  to  dis- 
cover, anterior  to  the  publication  of  the  Gospels,  the  faintest 
trace  of  this  absurd  event,  which,  had  it  existed,  could  not  have 
failed  to  excite  a  cry  of  universal  reprobation.  No,  this  horri- 
ble  crime  was  never  committed! 

All  Catholic  historians,  with  touching  unanimity,  have  de- 
voted Herod  to  the  execrations  of  future  races  ;  it  is  time  to 
wash  him  of  the  greater  part  of  the  odious  reproaches  of  which 
he  has  been  the  object,  audit  will  be  a  meritorious  work,  reject- 
ing interested  authorities,  to  restore  his  prestige. 

There  is  a  fact  of  his  life  which  may  be  cited  as  an  example 
for  all  princes,  and  which  displays  a  rare  goodness  of  heart,  es- 
pecially at  that  epoch  of  egotism  and  of  decadence. 

A  great  famine  had  fallen  upon  Judea,  Herod  sold  his  lands, 
his  costly  household  stuflfs,  and  his  plate,  to  relieve  the  suffer- 
ings of  his  people. 

Was  that  the  act,  think  you,  of  an  infant-butcher  ? 

Catholic  history  does  not  look  too  closely  when  anxious  to 
stigmatize,  but  it  is  only  just  to  recognize  the  facility  with  which 
it  is  equally  ready  to  absolve  all  the  crimes  of  its  adepts.  With 
what  praises,  with  what  base  adulations,  has  it  not  loaded  Con- 
stantine,  who,  while  staining  himself  with  the  blood  of  his  wife 
and  her  son,  protected  Christians  and  persecuted  heretics  ! 

To  such  lengths  were  the  Apostles  led  by  servile  adoption  of 
the  ancient  traditions  of  the  East !  they  required  a  second 
edition  of  the  tyrant  Kansa,  and  their  holy  wrath  fell  upon 
Herod. 

All  these  turpitudes  bore  their  fmit,  and  we  know  how  skillful 
their  successors  were,  and  still  are  when  it  becomes  needful  to 
Cilsify  history. 
26* 


fa6  TRK   BIBLE  IN  DfDIA 


CHAPTER  V. 

HINDOO  AND   CHRISTIAN  TRANSFIGURATION. 

Christna,  to  reassure  his  disciples,  who  trembled  before  the 
great  armies  sent  against  them  by  the  tyrant  of  Madura,  ap- 
peared to  them  in  all  his  divine  majesty. 

This  transfiguration  is  logical,  comprehensible  ;  it  was,  in  the 
face  of  a  great  danger,  the  best  means  of  restoring  the  drooping 
courage  of  Ardjouna  and  the  other  followers  of  the  Hindoo  re- 
deemer. 

According  to  the  Evangelists,  Jesus,  having  taken  with  him 
Peter,  James  and  John,  led  them  up  a  high  mountain,  and  was 
transfigured  before  them  :  "his  face  shone  like  the  sun,  and  his 
vestments  became  white  as  snow." 

No  motive  is  given  for  this  supernatural  action,  only,  in  de- 
scending the  mountain,  Jesus  says  to  those  who  were  with  him  : 
"  Tell  no  man  of  this  vision,  until  that  the  Son  of  Man  is  risen 
again  from  among  the  dead." 

Don't  speak  of  it  before  the  resurrection  !  Let  him  resusci- 
tate Lazarus,  let  him  heal  the  son  of  the  centurion ;  at  the 
smallest  miracle,  Jesus  repeats  this  caution. 

But  pray  be  logical.  If  you  are  the  redeemer,  why  hide  your 
acts,  the  manifestations  which  might  open  the  eyes  of  the  peo- 
ple? Why  leave  to  your  disciples  the  task  of  revealing  all 
these  things  after  your  death  ? 


HINDOO   ORIGIN   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   IDEA.  307 

The  answer  is  easy,  and  the  object  palpable,  but  the  trick  ii 
loarse. 

Consider  this  petty  cunning  :  the  Apostles  feeling  the  value 
of  the  argument,  and  taking  care  to  have  it  refuted  by  Jesus 
himself. 

Explain  to  us,  then,  might  be  demanded  by  believers,  how 
we  never  heard  mention  of  all  these  miracles  performed  by 
Christ? 

It  is  very  simple,  they  might  then  reply,  Jesus  forbid  us  to 
talk  of  them,  and  it  is  only  after  his  death  that  we  are  commis- 
sioned to  divulge  these  wonders. 

Weil  acted  for  the  weak,  the  credulous,  and  the  imbecile. 
'kiut  for  the  others? 

It  still  remains,  however,  to  explain  how  the  tliousands  of 
persons,  fed  with  a  few  fishes,  never  spoke  :  how  the  wedding 
guests  of  Cana  remained  silent ;  how.  .  .  .  but  we  fall  into 
repetition,  it  is  always  the  same  thing.  How  stale  is  all 
*his  ! 

Moses,  when  he  ascended  the  mountain  to  converse  with 
Jehovnh,  forbade  any  one  in  Israel  to  follow  him,  on  pain  of 
death  1 

Zoroaster  wTote  his  Nosks,  alone  with  Ormuzd! 

Poudha,  when  he  wished  to  converse  with  Brahma,  sent  away 
his  followers  ! 

Christna  and  Christ  transfigured  themselves  only  before  their 
Apostles,  when  in  public  it  would  have  sufficed  to  preclude  in- 
credulity. 

And,  on  the  model  of  all  these  people  who  feared  the  light, 
Mahomet,  the  last  comer,  withdraws  into  a  cavern  when  he 
wishes  to  receive  the  orders  of  the  Lord. 

It  is  to  be  hoped,  however,  that  all  this  is  over  and  that  we 
are  relieved,  once  for  all,  of  all  these  miracle-workers,  who  hide 
themselves  beliind  screens  to  fabricate  their  prodigies. 

During  five  or  six  thousand  years  has  the  priest  ruled  the 
t^orld  by  confiscating  the  idea  of  God  to  his  own  profit,  and 
proscribmg  liberty.     It  is  time  to  toll  the  fiineral  knell  of  thif 


3o8  THE   BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 

demoralizing  power,  it  is  time  to  abjure  the  past  and  to  found 
a  truly  humanitarian  future. 

The  old  Hindoo  incarnation  gave  it  a  shake,  and  imitatora 
and  plagiarists  have  not  been  wanting.  Let  us  tear  out  those 
last  roots  which  threaten  again  to  sprout  from  earth  for  the  ab. 
struction  of  free  and  rational  progress. 

Liberty  will  not  imitate  the  priest,  she  will  not  proscribe  hhn, 
but  will  exclude  him  from  government  and  politics,  and  replace 
him  in  the  temple,  whence  he  has  never  emerged  but  as  the  i  n- 
avowed  instrument  of  degradation  and  corruption. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE    HOLY  WOMEN,     NICHDALI,    SARASVATI,    AND   MAGDALEN. 

The  legend  of  the  holy  women,  Nichdali  and  Sarasvati,  has, 
beyond  doubt,  been  revived  by  the  Evangelists  in  the  legend  ot 
the  Magdalen ;    as  is  easily  recognized. 

The  Hindoo  women  approach  Christna  to  adore  him,  and 
the  people  murmur  at  their  audacity. 

The  Jewess  approaches  Clirist  for  the  same  purpose,  and  the 
Apostles  would  repulse  her. 

Nichdali  and  Saravasti  lavish  perfumes  on  the  head  of 
Christna. 

The  same  act  is  ascribed  to  the  Magdalen. 


HINDOO   ORIGIN   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  IDEA.  309 

The  only  difference  between  these  figments  is,  that  tlie  first, 
although  of  the  lowest  class  of  the  people,  are  virtuous  and 
honest,  and  come  to  solicit  a  cessation  of  their  sterility ;  whilf: 
the  other  is  a  prostitute  imploring  pardon  for  her  sins. 

There  again  is  Hindoo  influence  incontestable,  although  it 
seems  to  declare  itself  less  by  some  insignificant  details. 

The  moral  principle  is  the  same,  let  the  weak  and  the  op- 
pressed come  to  me,  justice  is  for  the  helpless  as  for  the  power 
fill,  for  the  guilty  as  for  the  just. 

Sublime  maxims  by  which  the  Brahmins,  heirs  of  Christna, 
should  have  been  content  to  govern  the  people  ;  and  which  the 
priests,  successors  of  Christ,  should  never  have  forgotten. 

But  no  more  reflections.  We  may  not  fatigue  the  reader 
wdth  repetition  of  the  same  arguments. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

rENTH  HINDOO  AVATAR,  OR  DESCENT  OF  CHRISTNA  UPOJI 
EARTH  TO  ENCOUNTER  THE  PRINCE  OF  THE  RACKCHASAS  — 
APOCALYPSE   OF   ST.    JOHN. 

A  simple  question  : 

All  Hindoo  prophecies  announce  this  tenth  Avatar,  that  is, 
the  coming  of  Christna  upon  earth.  Before  return  of  the 
Malia-Pralaya,  or  destruction  of  all  that  exists,  the  God  will 
appear  in  all  his  glory,  for  a  terrible  combat  with  the  prince  of 


3IO  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

demons,  or  Rackchasas,  disguised  as  a  horse,  for  the  purpose 
of  chasing  him  back  to  hell ;  whence  he  shall  issue  to  attempt 
re-conquest  of  his  power. 

"The  world,"  says  Ramatsariar,  "commenced  by  a  contest 
between  the  spirit  of  good  and  the  spirit  of  evil  —  and  so 
must  end.  After  the  destruction  of  matter,  evil  can  no  longer 
subsist,  it  must  return  to  nought."  — Tamos. 

I  make  no  pretension  to  explain  this  belief;  but  ask  an  an- 
swer. 

It  was  on  return  from  his  travels  in  Asia,  from  that  countrj' 
governed  by  the  Brahmins  of  Zoroaster,  that  Saint  John  wrote 
his  Apocalypse.  Is  it  not  evident  that  it  was  there  he  gleaned 
this  prediction,  unknown  to  the  Apostles,  which  applies  not  to 
Christ,  and  which  makes  him  return,  at  the  end  of  the  world, 
like  the  Hindoo  incarnation,  to  encounter  the  prince  of  demons 
in  the  shape  of  a  horse  ? 

The  Apocalypse,  as  may  be  easily  seen,  is  in  its  figurative 
style,  its  introduction  of  animals,  of  elements,  and,  above  all,  in 
its  obscurity,  wholly  in  the  characteristic  cloudy  spirit  of  the 
East 

Another  almost  undeniable  plagiarism:  to  point  out  a]] 
would  be  endless. 


mUTDOO  OlIOIN  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEA.  511 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

CHRIST  TEMPTED  BY  THE  DEVIL. 

"  In  that  time,"  says  the  Gospel,  "Jesus  was  led  by  the  spirit 
into  the  desert  to  be  tempted  of  the  Devil ;  and  after  having 
fiisted  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  he  was  hungry. 

"  And  the  tempter,  approaching,  said  to  him  : 

"  If  thou  art  the  Son  of  God,  command  that  these  stones  be 
made  bread. 

"Jesus  answered: 

"  It  is  written :  Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by 
every  word  that  cometh  out  of  the  mouth  of  God. 

"  Then  the  Devil  took  him  and  brought  him  into  the  boljr 
city,  and  having  placed  him  on  the  top  of  the  temple,  said :  *  If 
thou  art  the  Son  of  God,  cast  thyself  down,  for  it  is  written,  he 
has  confided  thee  to  his  angels,  and  they  shall  bear  you  in  their 
arms,  lest  your  foot  strike  against  a  stone.* 

"Jesus  replied : 

"  It  is  also  written,  tliou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God. 
The  devil  took  him  again  and  conveyed  him  to  an  exceeding 
high  mountain,  and  showed  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
and  their  glory,  and  said : 

"  I  will  give  you  all  these  things  if  you  will  fall  down  and 
worship  me. 

"  But  Jesus  said  to  him : 


JI*  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

**  Withdraw  thee,  Satan,  for  it  is  written,  Jiou  shalt  worship 
the  Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve. 

"Then  the  Devil  left  hini,  and  immediately  Angels  came 
am^  ministered  unto  him." 

Wishing  to  speak  of  this  temptation  of  Jesus  I  simply  cite 
this  fine  passage,  after  the  Gospel,  from  fear  of  spoiling  it 
by  abridgment. 

I  have  not  found  in  the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindoos  the  fac- 
simile of  this  event ;  but  will  not  affirm  that  it  may  not  be 
found.  It  will  be  easily  understood,  that  the  powers  of  one 
man  must  be  insufficient,  conveniently  to  explore  all  the  sub- 
jects touched  on  by  this  work. 

I  shall  certainly  recur,  after  still  more  important  studies,  to 
niany  things  that  remain  obscure  or  imperfectly  elucidated. 

However  this  be,  and  admitting  this  passage  to  be  the  pecu- 
liar property  of  the  Evangelists,  it  affords  us  the  opportunity  of 
tGO  easily  catching  them  in  the  flagrant  act  of  imposture  to  be 
permitted  to  escape. 

What  think  you  of  this  devil  who  occupies  himself  in  carrying 
oif  God. 

Is  it  God  who  allows  himself  to  be  seized  by  the  Devil  ? 

To  what  depth,  then,  may  fanaticism  abase  conscience  and 
the  most  ordinary  teaching  of  reason,  when  such  monstrous 
aDsurdities,  such  burlesques  of  the  wisdom  and  the  omnipotence 
of  the  Supreme  Being,  are  daringly  offered  to  the  credulity  of 
the  people ! 

Not  content  with  having  himself  carried  from  the  desert  to 
the  top  of  a  temple,  from  that  temple  to  a  mountain,  God  that 
is  the  Master  of  the  Universe,  the  Creator  and  Supreme  Ruler 
of  all  things,  further  consents  to  cavil  with  the  Devil !  and  the 
latter  to  play  the  facetious ! 

Eat  these  stones,  by  commanding  them  to  change  themselves 
into  bread. 

If  you  are  God,  throw  yourself  down  from  this  temple ! 

Worship  me,  and  I  will  give  you  the  empire  of  the  world  ! 


HINDOO  ORIGIN  OF  THE   CHRISTIiJT  IDEA.  Jll 

And,  curiously  enough,  the  pretended  God  takes  the  trouble 
to  reply  seriously ! 

By  what  name  denounce  such  blasphemies,  if  all  these  adven- 
tures were  not  simply  ridiculous  ? 

The  adepts  of  these  superstitions  are,  in  truth,  welcome  to 
pelt  with  the  mud  of  Sacristie  and  Jesuit  holy-office,  the  parti- 
sans of  reason  and  of  freedom  of  thought ;  it  needs  their 
audacity,  their  spirit  of  party,  to  dare  denounce  us  as  material- 
ists and  atlieists,  for  desiring  to  divest  the  grand  figure  of  God 
of  all  those  unworthy  weaknesses  invented  by  the  sectaries  of 
a  decaying  past. 

Does  not  Cicero's  sarcasm  find  application  here?  can  it  be 
that  Mark  or  John,  Luke  or  Matthew,  could  look  at  each  other 
without  laughing  ? 

Long  ago,  had  these  men  only  adopted  the  superstitions  of 
India,  had  they  not  encountered  that  sublime  morale  of  Christna 
which  illumined  the  first  ages,  would  they  have  been  consigned 
to  contempt  and  oblivion,  with  the  priests  of  Vesta,  of  Osiris, 
and  of  I  sis. 

The  morale^  that  is  what  saved  them,  what  made  their  success 
in  the  first  ages,  until  the  moment  when  their  well  secured 
power  enabled  them  to  dictate  their  orders  to  peoples  and  to 
kings,  and  to  re-establish  their  regime  of  domination. 

m 


(4  THE    BIBLE   IN   INDIA. 


CHAPTER      IX. 

r»NSTITUTION    OF    THE    CHURCH     BY    THE    APOSTLES   Cm     Tfl« 

MODEL   OF   BRAHMINICAL   INSTITUTIONS THE   GOD   OF  THR 

CHRISTIANS  BAPTISM  CONFIRMATION  CONFESSION  — 

ORDINATION     OR    CONSECRATION TONSURE CORDON    IN- 
VESTITURE, ETC.,  ETC. 

We  have  said  that  Jesus  and  his  Apostles  had  studied  in 
Egypt  and  the  East,  that  the  revolution  effected  by  them  was 
due  to  the  sacred  books  of  India ;  new  proofs,  still  more  irrefut- 
able, will  add  themselves  to  those  already  given  in  support  of 
this  proposition. 

We  have  just  seen  the  material  impossibility  of  all  the  mira 
cles,  of  all  the  superstitions,  with  which  it  pleased  the  Evange- 
lists to  surround  the  life  of  the  Christian  reformer,  in  discovering 
that  they  were  all  but  a  second  edition  of  the  same  facts  and 
acts  already  attributed  to  Christna  by  ancient  India-  We  are 
about  to  show,  in  a  few  words,  that  the  Christian  church  con- 
tinuing the  same  borrowing  system,  is  but  a  second  edition  of 
the  primitive  Brahminical  church. 

Moses,  the  Prophets,  in  a  word,  the  Hebrew  religion,  knew 
nothing  of  the  trinity  of  God,  in  the  sense  of  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost,  as  introduced  in  the  Christian  idea. 

Whence  did  the  Apostles  imbibe  this  doctrine  of  Trinity  in 
Unity  ?    Nowhere  does  Jesus  define  it  as  a  serious  dogma,  ha 


HINDOO   ORIGIN  OF  THE   CURISTIAN   IDEA.  315 

seems  to  have  been  much  more  a  partisan  of  the  simple  Uritj 
of  the  Supreme  Being  than  his  successors. 

It  is  logical  to  conclude  that  the  Apostles  adopted  this  dogma, 
with  their  many  other  borrowings,  from  the  theology  of  the 
East. 

Brahma  is  God  the  Father,  Vischnou  is  the  Son  incarnate  in 
Cliristna,  Siva  is  the  Spirit  who  presides  at  the  manifestation 
of  Omnipotence,  the  operating  afflatus. 

Here  is  the  Hindoo  belief  transplanted  into  Catholicism,  the 
imitation  is  flagrant,  for  it  would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  the 
Apostles  invented  this  theory  of  the  three  persons  of  the  Divin- 
ity, when  Brahminism,  which  prevailed  not  only  in  India,  but 
throughout  Asia,  had  already  expressed  the  same  ideas  for 
tiiousands  of  years. 

We  have  too  long  forgotten  that  Christianity  was  bom  in  the 
East,  and  was  there  developed  before  gaining  over  the  nations 
of  the  West,  and  that  there  must  we  return  if  we  would  discover 
the  sources  from  which  it  sprung. 

Reference  to  the  chapters  devoted  to  the  Brahminical  religion 
will  sufficiently  show  that  the  sacrifices  and  sacraments  of  that 
creed  were  adopted  almost  literally  by  the  new  Church. 

Is  Christian  baptism  anything  else  than  Hindoo  baptism  ? 

How  easy  is  it  to  indicate  its  origin  ! 

The  partisans  of  Christna  have  a  sacred  river,  the  Ganges, 
whose  waters  should  wash  out  originial  sin.  John  the  Baptist 
and  his  followers,  have  also  a  sacred  river,  the  Jordan,  whose 
waters  are  used  for  the  same  purpose. 

This  custom,  indigenous  in  the  extreme  East,  the  country  of 
religious  ablutions,  was  doubtless  so  well  kno^vn  to  all  the 
world,  that  the  Apostles  subjected  Jesus  to  it,  not  daring  to 
attribute  to  him  the  merit  of  instituting  the  first  of  their  sacra- 
ments. 

There  was  but  one  means  of  extrication  from  the  difficulty, 
which  was  to  establish  John  as  the  precursor  of  Chris tj  by  order 
of  God  —  which  they  did. 


3l6  THE   BIBLE   IN   ENDIA. 

But  wherefore  this  precursor?  Bah!  enough  cf  cavilling; 
what  good  in  dwelling  upon  insignificant  questions. 

At  sixteen  the  Hindoo  is  obliged  to  present  himself  at  the 
temple,  to  have  his  puriiicatior;  confirmed  by  the  application  ol 
holy  oil. 

And  this  ceremony  is  equally  made  its  own  by  the  new 
religion — by  Catholicism. 

As  all  children  cannot  be  presented  at  the  Ganges,  the  Brah 
mins  substitute  for  the  waters  of  the  holy  river,  the  water  of 
purification,  in  which  they  dissolve  salt  and  aromatics  to  pre- 
serve it. 

As  it  is  equally  impossible,  as  the  Christian  communion  in- 
creases, to  transport  all  the  new-born  to  the  banks  of  Jordan, 
the  Apostles,  following  the  Hindoo  rite,  adopt  the  usage  of 
holy  water. 

The  ancient  Brahmins  were  religious  judges,  received  publi<* 
confessions  of  faults,  and  adjudged  the  penalty. 

The  Apostles  arrogate  the  same  functions,  and  establish  the 
public  confessions  alone  in  use,  as  we  know,  in  the  first  times 
of  the  church. 

It  was  not  until  more  than  two  centuries  after  Jesus  Christ 
that  the  bishops  substituted  private  for  public  confessions  —  an 
occult  agency  whose  demoralizing  tendency  is  too  easily  indica- 
ted. 

The  Brahmin  priest  is  anointed  with  consecrated  oil,  practises 
the  tonsure,  and  receives  investiture  of  the  sacred  thread. 

The  Apostles  do  the  same  to  distinguish  themselves  from 
lay-believers. 

Communion  did  not  exist  in  the  Brahminical  religion  as  a 
hacrament  As  we  have  seen  in  our  Hindoo  studies,  there  is  a 
law  for  the  faithful  to  eat  with  the  priest  in  the  temple,  of  the 
flour,  the  rice,  and  the  fruits  which  have  been  offered  to  God  in 
hacrifice,  and  this  holy  food  purifies  from  all  stain.  But  it  is 
not  said  that  God  is  present. 

In  adopting  this  ceremony  the  Apostles  added  this  last  clause, 
and  that  is  called  the  Eucharist.     It  is  nevertheless  true  thai 


HINDOO  ORIGIN  OF  THE  CHRISTIA:?  IDEA.  317 

this  Christian  custom  was  and  is  but  a  copy  of  the  Hindoo  usage, 
that  the  first  believers  eat  bread  and  drank  wine  in  common, 
which  resembled  in  nothing  tlie  actual  iymboUc  Hosv. 

Protestants,  who  deny  the  real  presence  and  receive  theii 
sacrament  in  two  kinds,  pretend  with  good  reason  to  have  thu. 
letumed  to  tlie  simple  usage  of  the  first  ages. 

Lastly,  to  have  done  with  all  these  borrowings,  much  more 
numerous,  no  doubt,  but  of  which  we  take  only  the  most  promi- 
nent. 

The  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  is  nothing  else  than  the  Hindoo 
Sai:rifice  of  Sarvameda. 

1  n  the  Sarvameda,  Brahma,  victim  through  his  son  Christna, 
*  tho  came  to  die  on  earth  for  our  salvation,  himself  accom- 
plishes the  solemn  sacrifice  by  the  hand  of  a  Brahmin  priest. 

Does  the  Christian  sacrifice  emanate  from  another  idea  ? 
Answer  who  can,  or  who  dare  ;  attacking  the  errors  of  others, 
we  shall  be  glad  to  recognize  our  own. 

The  revolt  of  the  angels,  the  first  creatures  created  by  God, 
does  not  exist  in  Judaism,  that  is,  in  the  religious  constitution 
of  Moses.  The  revolt  of  the  devas  against  Brahma  gave  birth 
to  the  Cliristian  dogma.  India  again,  always  India  that  initi- 
ates! 

The  reader  will  understand  that  we  pass  rapidly  over  all  these 
things.     Wherefore  dally  with  the  brutal  force  of  facts  ? 

It  is  as  evident  that  the  Apostles  copied  India,  as  that  our 
French  law  has  copied  the  code  of  Justinian,  which  itself  was 
derived  through  Asia  and  Egj^Dt,  from  the  laws  of  Manou. 

A  man  during  three  years  preaches  charity,  good-will,  and 
abnegation,  confines  himself  to  the  morale  ;  institutes  neither 
dogmas  nor  ceremonies,  restricting  himself  to  resuscitation  for 
the  men  of  his  epoch,  of  the  grand  principles  of  conscience 
which  they  had  rather  foresworn  than  forgotten. 

The  companions,  the  successors  of  this  man,  who  was  Jesus, 
construct  after  his  death  a  complete  religious  worship ;  rites, 
dogmas,  ceremonies,  new  sacraments,  are  taken  neither  from 
Paganism  nor  from  Judaism.     Whence  come  they,  then,  if  not 


3lS  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

borrowed  from  ancient  India,  which  possesses  the  same  beliefs, 
the  same  exterior  manifestations,  the  same  worship,  and  thai 
from  thousands  of  years  before  the  Christian  revolution  ? 

This  is  not  all :  Jesus  becomes  Christ,  he  re-unites  in  hunself 
all  the  mysteries,  all  the  miracles,  all  the  prodigies  of  Christna. 
His  morale^  which  we  only  know  by  his  Apostles,  is  the  same 
as  that  of  the  Hindoo  incarnation.  Mary  revives  the  figure  of 
Devanaguy.  Herod  copies  Kansa,  the  tyrant  of  Madura. 
Jordan  plays  the  part  of  Ganges.  Holy  water  succeeds  the 
waters  of  purification  ;  baptism,  confirmation,  confession,  Euch- 
arist, less  the  real  presence,  ordination  of  priests  by  tonsure  and 
consecrated  oil,  all  resemble,  all  modelled  one  from  the  other. 
And  the  Apostles  would  have  us  believe  that  they  had  received 
a  celestial  mission  !  .  .  .  And  were  not  inspired  from  the 
East,  by  that  antique  Brahminism  which  illumined  the  ancien 
world ! 

But  let  us  come  to  an  understanding.  I  accept  the  provi- 
dential mission  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  in  the  same  sense  as  I 
accept  that  of  Christna,  Manou,  Boudha,  Zoroaster,  Manes, 
Confucius,  and  Mahomet. 

Only  let  me  be  permitted  to  consign  these  people  to  the 
fables,  dreams,  and  superstitions  of  the  past ! 

And  to  erect  on  the  threshold  of  the  future  as  the  guide  c*f 
modern  nations, 

God  and  Conscience! 


HINDOO  OiaaiN  or  the   CHRISriAN  IDEA  $tf 


CHAPTER  X 

WHENCE  THE  MONKS  AND    HERMITS  OF  PRIMIITVE 
CHRISTIANIXy  ? 

Paganism  and  Judaism  knew  nothing  of  coenobite  life. 

Whence,  then,  the  affluence  of  hermits  and  anchorites,  who 
•uddenly  appear  in  the  first  ages  of  the  Christian  Church  ? 

Jesus  did  not  preach  that  doctrine  of  seclusion  and  contem- 
plation, which  enticed  early  Christians  to  the  desert  to  live 
midst  privations  and  penitential  inflictions  of  all  kinds. 

Hair-cloth,  sack-cloth,  and  corporal  sufferings  form  no  part  of 
his  sublime  morale. 

We  cannot  place  sterile  indolence  under  the  patronage  of 
him  who  sanctified  labor. 

To  the  militant,  succeeded,  as  we  have  seen,  that  ascetic  life 
of  the  Brahmins,  which  washed  out  all  stains  contracted  in  the 
exercise  of  their  ministry. 

In  like  manner  were  all  dwidjas  or  holy  persons  constrained 
by  the  law  to  renunciation  of  all  earthly  luxuries,  pleasures  and 
aflfections. 

A  resurrection  of  Brahminical  ideas  produced  Christian  cceno- 
bitism. 

We  have  above  given  the  rules  imposed  upon  earnest  Hin- 
doos who  desired  exclusively  to  devote  themselves  to  contem* 


^tO  THE   BIBLE   IN   TNDIA. 

plation  of  Brahma.  The  following  passages  from  Maiicm  ap[)Ij 
marvellously  to  the  life  of  Christian  anchorites  :  — 

"Let  him  (who  has  renounced  the  world)  renounce  ths 
ordinar}^  (liiet  of  towns,  renounce  his  wife,  his  sons,  and  all  that 
he  possesses. 

"  Let  him  take  with  him  consecrated  fire,  and  ad  the  ves- 
sels necessary  for  sacrifice,  and  retire  into  the  forest  and  sub- 
due his  appetites. 

"  Let  him  wear  the  skin  of  a  gazelle,  or  a  coat  made  of  bark, 
and  purify  himself  night  and  morning.  Let  him  always  wear 
his  hair  long,  and  allow  his  beard,  the  hair  of  his  body,  and  his 
nails  to  grow. 

"  Let  him  contrive,  even  fi-om  his  scanty  fare,  still  to  givs 
alms. 

"  Let  him  study  the  Holy  Scriptures  ( the  Vedas )  unceasingly, 
endure  all  with  patience,  be  always  resigned,  show  himself  com- 
passionate to  all  beings,  give  always,  and  never  receive  ! . 

"  Let  him  eat  only  fruits,  herbs,  and  roots. 

"  Let  him  sleep  upon  the  bare  earth,  on  thorns,  and  on 
flints. 

"  Let  him  preserve  absolute  silence,  even  when  in  the  vil- 
lages begging  nourishment  for  his  perishable  body. 

"  Let  him  not  live  by  the  practise  of  either  soothsaying  or 
astrology.  ( These  sciences,  we  see,  are  out  of  date,  and  were 
t!iey  not  brought  by  the  Arabs  from  the  East  into  Europe  ? ) 

"  In  governing  his  members,  in  renouncing  every  kind  of 
affection,  and  all  hatred,  in  flying  from  evil  and  practising  good, 
he  prepares  himself  for  immortality." 

And,  further  adds  the  Holy  Scripture  : — 

"  Let  him  desire  not  death,  let  him  desire  not  life,  and  as  a 
laborer  at  evening  waits  peaceably  for  his  hire  at  the  door  of 
nis  master,  so  let  him  wait  until  his  hour  is  come. 

"  And  when  for  him  shall  sound  the  hour  of  death,  let  hin* 
request  to  be  stretched  upon  a  mat  and  covered  with  ashes ; 
and  let  his  last  word  be  a  prayer  for  all  humanity  that  must 


HINDOO   ORIGIN  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  IDEA.  32 Z 

continue  to  suffer,  when  he  shall  be  re-united  to  the  father  of 
all  things." 

Such  was  the  rule  of  Hindoo  and  Christian  anchorites.  To 
cite  is  to  prove  —  these  last  were  but  imitators. 

The  exaggeration  of  these  Brahminical  principles  prodviced 
sunnyasis  and  fakirs,  whose  mannei  of  life  we  have  described 
as  well  as  their  tortures  and  frightful  self-mutilations. 

The  same  causes  produced  the  same  results  in  Christianity, 
and  we  see  the  fakirs  Simon-StyUtes,  Origen,  and  others,  in 
rivalry  with  Hindoo  fakirs. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


LAST    PROOFS. 


Even  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles  there  were  men  who  as. 
signed  to  Christianity  an  Oriental  origin,  and  who  did  theii 
utmost  to  effect  a  complete  return  to  Brahminism. 

They  admitted  the  unrevealed,  quiescent  Zeus  of  the  Hin- 
doos, in  whose  bosom  resided  the  germ  of  matter  and  of  all  the 
principles  of  life. 

Ther.  the  God  became  creator^  tliat  is,  author  of  the  existing 
world,  and  revealed  himself  in  Creation. 

The  partisans  of  this  system  denied  revelation,  recognizing 
only  an   uninterrupted   tradition  ascending   to   the  cradle  of 


32»  THE   BIBLE   IN  INDIA. 

humanity,  and  handed  down  to  all  peoples  from  the  extreme 
East — the  birth-place,  according  to  them,  of  our  race.     Jesm 
Christ,  therefore,  whom    they  considered  sent  of  God,  camr 
upon  earth  not  to  reform,  but  to  complete  the  work  of  tradi 
tion,  and  recall  man  to  the  simple  and  pure  faith  of  the  first  ages. 

These  doctrines  were  maintained  in  the  times  of  the  Apostles 
by  Philo  the  Jew,  Dositheus,  Cerinthus,  Simon  the  Magician, 
and  Menander  the  Samaritan ;  and,  afterwards,  developed  in 
the  second  and  third  centuries  by  Carpocratius,  Basilides, 
Valentinus  and  Tatian  of  Alexandria,  Saturninus  of  Antioch, 
Bardesanes  of  Edessa,  as  by  Marcion  and  Cerdon,  who  pro- 
fessed to  have  found  in  Asia  tlie  true  sources  of  the  religious 
idea. 

The  Apostles,  seeing  themselves  unmasked  and  threatened 
in  their  work,  treated  Simon,  Dositheus,  and  others,  as  heretics, 
blasphemers,  possessed  of  the  devil,  and  accumulated  upon 
them  all  the  thunders  of  the  infant  church. 

When  later  these  opinions  sought  to  establish  themselves 
with  new  arguments,  the  Christian  religion  had  forgotten  its 
abnegation  and  poverty,  to  ascend  thrones,  and  employed  its 
power  through  emperors,  to  torture  and  proscribe  all  who  at- 
tempted to  question  its  origin ;  thus  preluding  all  the  massacres, 
all  the  proscriptions,  all  the  butcheries  that  ensanguined  botfc 
Middle  Ages  and  times  more  modern. 

Origen,  the  most  celebrated  doctor  of  the  church,  believed 
in  the  pre-existence  of  souls  in  worlds  above,  whence  they  de- 
scended to  animate  bodies,  and  that  they  came  to  be  purified 
on  this  earth  from  anterior  transgression,  to  return  at  last  to 
union  \\'ith  God. 

He  also  maintained  that  the  pains  of  hell  were  not  etemai. 

All  which  is  nothing  else  than  pure  Hindoo  doctrine. 

We  see  that  the  ruling  idea  of  this  book  is  not  of  yesterday's 
birth,  and  that  cntemporaries  of  the  Apostles  and  first  Chris- 
tians  eighteen  centuries  before  us,  considered  the  East  as  the 
cradle  of  all  relig'ous  ideas. 


HINDOO  ORIGIN  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEA  323 

We  have  therefore  only  brought  to  the  discussion  new  argu- 
ments, exhumed  from  the  antique  atelier  of  all  traditions. 


CHAPTER  XIL 

A  WORK  OF  JESUITISM  IN  INDIA. 

The  reverend  fathers,  Jesuits,  Franciscans,  stranger- 
missions,  and  other  corporations,  unite  with  touching  har- 
mony in  India  to  accomplish  a  work  of  Vandalism,  which  it  is 
right  to  denounce  as  well  to  the  learned  world  as  to  Orien- 
talists. Every  manuscript,  every  Sanscrit  work  that  falls  into 
their  hands,  is  immediately  condemned  and  consigned  to  the 
flames.  Needless  to  say  that  the  choice  of  these  gentlemen 
always  falls  from  preference  upon  those  of  highest  antiquity, 
and  whose  authenticity  may  appear  incontestable. 

What  is  the  object  of  this  act  of  intolerance  and  folly?  Is 
it  to  preserve  the  few  Christians  of  India  from  reading  these 
works? 

No !  I  aflSrm  that  not  one  of  their  adepts,  who  are  always  of 
the  very  lowest  class,  is  capable  of  understanding  the  old 
sacred  language  of  India,  which,  to-day,  is  only  studied  by 
learned  Brahmins. 

Well,  then!  the  answer  which  would  not  be  given  is  very 
simple,  viz.,  they  destroy  the  book  because  they  fear  it,  and 
that  they  may  not  hereafter  have  to  encounter  it. 


324  THE  BIBLE  IN  INDIA. 

Oh!  they  well  know,  and  especially  the  Jesuits,  the  value 
of  the  works  they  destroy.  Every  new  arrival  receives  a 
formal  order,  so  to  dispose  of  all  that  may  fall  into  his  hands. 
Happily  the  Brahmins  do  not  open  to  them  the  secret  stores 
of  their  immense  literary  wealth,  philosophic  and  religious. 

This  destructive  mania  has  borne  its  fruits,  and  it  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult,  without  extraordinary  intimacy,  to  induce  a 
Brahmin  to  permit  examination  of  the  sacred  works  of  his 
pagoda. 

The  Hindoo  priest,  who  knows  his  influence  over  the  masses, 
who  is  obeyed  on  a  sign  by  both  great  and  little,  cannot  im- 
agine but  that  the  Catholic  priest  has  the  same  power  over 
his  compatriots. 

What  do  you  want  with  this  book?  is  their  ordinary  reply 
— ^it  is  not  written  for  your  nation,  and  you  but  ask  me  for 
it,  probably  to  take  it  to  the  mission. 

And  hence  it  is,  that  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Calcutta  has  not 
yet  been  able  to  collect  the  entire  Vedas,  and  is  not  quite 
sure  of  the  copies  it  possesses  in  which  many  designed  inter- 
polations have  been  discovered. 

What  wonder?  for  two  centuries  has  this  stupid  and  bar- 
barous destruction  continued,  and  Hindoos  are  warned  to  be 
suspicious. 

Tell  us,  good  Fathers,  what  then  is  your  hope  from  burning 
thought,  now  that  you  can  no  longer  burn  our  bodies? — to 
extinguish  light? 

Be  well  assured  it  will  shine  out  in  spite  of  you  and  your 
dark  and  secret  operations. 


HINDOO  ORIGIN  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEA  325 


CHAPTER  Xin. 


A  TEXT  OF  MANOU. 


"As  the  most  obscure  soldier  of  an  army  may  sometimes 
by  a  fiery  arrow  destroy  the  strongest  fortress  of  the  enemy, 
so  may  the  weakest  man  when;  he  makes  himself  the  coura- 
geous champion  of  truth,  overthrow  the  most  solid  ramparts 
of  superstition  and  of  error."  \    ^  '1^,^     v^ 


■  V, 


THE  END.  ^<hJ^'L   ai'i 


>/ 


Jl  "DEPARTURE  IN  FICTION  WRITING,  IN^ 
STRUCTION  AND  ENTERTAINMENT  COMBINED 


IRubca 

H  IRomance  of  Hnclent  UnMa 

BY 
ARTHUR  J.  WESTERMAYR 

Author  of  "  Power  of  Innocence  " 

A  Fascinating,   Thrillinsr,  and   Educational  Romance  of 
Ancient  India 

HLTHOUGH  the  theme  is  fiction,  its  setting 
is  authentic  and  based  on  the  best  avail- 
able historic  data;  and,  with  the  aid  of 
carefully  prepared  foot-notes  and  a  thorough 
alphabetical  glossary,  the  book  will  serve  the 
dual  purpose  of  entertainment  and  instruction. 
The  interesting  life,  religious  rites  and  com- 
prehensive philosophies,  habits,  customs  and 
social  forms,  the  art,  artistry  and  architecture 
of  this  ancient  people  who  so  extensively  influ- 


enced  the  civilizations  of  Europe  (and  it  is 
believed  by  some,  of  Egypt,  Persia,  and  the  Far 
East),  are  all  treated  with  appreciative  con- 
sideration, the  result  of  nearly  ten  years  of 
exhaustive  research. 

Reincarnation,  that  beautiful  and  poetic  con- 
ception of  the  Vedic  and  Buddhistic  Hindu,  is 
used  to  evolve  the  plot  attractively  and  it  affords 
ample  opportunity  for  vivid  and  dramatic 
exploitation. 

The  action  is  quick  and  effective,  the  por- 
trayal of  human  passion  sincere  and  vigorous, 
the  incidents  are  heart-gripping,  while  the  love 
motive,  tender  and  moving,  binds  the  plot  as 
with  a  band  of  purest  gold. 

If  the  reader  thinks  these  statements  are 
dangerously  near  the  margin  where  modesty 
ceases.  It  is  hoped  judgment  will  be  suspended 
until  perusal  of  the  work  results  in  full  acquittal. 

The  book  is  made  in  the  most  approved  style 
and  taste,  so  that  its  externals  make  an  appeal 
artistically,  as  the  contents  are  expected  to  do 
intellectually. 


©pinions  of  lEyperte 


MARION  MILLS  MILLER,  Litt.D.  (Princeton) 

"/  read  the  manuscript  of  your  novel,  Rudra,  at  one 
sitting  with  unflagging,  indeed,  with  increasing  interest,  for 
the  plot  is  so  strongly  builded  that  every  development  in  it 
not  only  fulfilled  but  exceeded  my  anticipation.  In  the 
manner  of  a  Greek  tragedian  you  have  fore-shadowed  the 
"■  end  long  before  it  is  reached  and  thrillingly  achieved  the 
expected,  which  to  my  mind  is  a  greater  triumph  than  agree- 
ably surprising  the  reader  with  the  unexpected, 

"The  design  of  the  work  is  thoroughly  artistic.  Book  I 
leads  up  to  a  most  dramatic  climax,  powerful  in  its  outward 
tragedy,  and  yet  still  more  powerful  in  its  psychological 
import.  Here  the  situation  is  created  which  Book  II  is  to 
solve;  this  it  does  in  completely  adequate  fashion:  Nemesis 
pursues  the  hero  to  the  very  end,  when  expiation  of  his 
crime  is  accomplished  at  a  burst  like  that  of  the  sun  through 
storm  clouds,  dissipating  them,  and  giving  assurance  of 
peace  and  joy. 

"But  the  book  is  more  than  a  novel.  In  addition  to  its 
narrative  interest,  and  to  my  mind  enhancing  this,  it 
possesses  scholarly  value,  presenting  in  active,  operative 
form  the  customs  and  beliefs  of  ancient  India  for  which 
the  reader  heretofore  has  had  to  seek  in  the  lifeless  dis- 
quisitions of  antiquarians. 

"The  work  therefore  peculiarly  appeals  to  the  highest 
class  of  fiction  readers,  those  who  appreciate  artistic  story- 
telling and  at  the  same  time  desire  to  carry  away  from  the 


perusal  of  every  book,  even  a  novel,  a  vivid  impression  of 
things  worth  knowing.  Theosophists  in  particular  will 
endorse  the  hook,  recommending  it  to  those  desiring  infor- 
mation  about  the  origin  and  the  nature  of  their  philosophy. 
Therefore  the  work  is  assured  of  an  audience,  even  though 
the  ^fiction  gluttons^  pass  it  by  as  meat  too  nourishing  for  ^ 
their  depraved  taste, 

M.  M.  MILLERS 

PROFESSOR  A.  V,  WILLIAMS  JACKSON 

(Holding  Chair  of  Indo-European  Literature,  Columbia  Uni- ! 
versity,  N.  Y.) 

"/  was  interested  in  glancing  over  your  romantic  narra- 
tive of  the  Rudra — a  theme  which  gives  good  scope  for 
description  as  well  as  dramatic  action — and  it  seems  to  me 
that  such  a  story  will  find  appreciative  readers  among  a 
cultured  circle,  owing  to  the  element  of  special  attraction 
which  scenes  laid  in  early  India  possess.  Hearty  thanks 
for  letting  me  have  a  glimpse  of  the  prospective  book,  and 
best  wishes  for  its  success. 

A.  V.  WILLIAMS  JACKSON.'* 

MARVIN  DANA,  Esq.,  Literary  Expert 

"This  story  contains  a  novel  and  ingenious  plot.  More^ 
over,  it  is  well  written.  .  .  .  The  book  reveals  a  deal  of 
erudition  on  the  writer's  part.  In  this  quality  of  the  work 
the  merit  is  from  the  amount  of  interesting  material  here 
given  concerning  ancient  Indians  customs,  religion,  myths 
and  traditions.  .  .  .  Personally  I  have  derived  much 
pleasure  from  the  manuscript,  since  its  theme  and  its 
setting  alike  make  particular  appeal  to  me. 

MARVIN  DANA.'' 

12mo.     Cloth  Bound.     $2.00  net 

G.  W.  DILLINGHAM  CO.,  Publishers,  New  York 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


OCl  25  1967 


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General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


U.C.BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


YC150429 


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